Rashad Hussain has been nominated as the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, who is likely to be first Muslim to head US diplomacy for advancing religious liberities. He is also a Director for Partnerships and Global Engagement at the National Security Council. He has previously served as Senior Counsel at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.

In the Obama Administration, Rashad was serving as a US Special Envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for Strategic Counterrorism Communications, and Deputy Associate White House Counsel. He has worked with multilateral organizations such as the OIC, United Nations, foreign governments and civil society organizations to expand partnerships in education, entrepreneurship, health, international security, science and technology and other areas. Prior to the Obama administration, Rashad served as a judicial law cleark to Damon Keith on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and was also an associate counsel to the Obama-Biden transition project.

Rashad earned his Master’s degrees in Public Administration and Arabic and Islamic Studies from Harvard University. Rashad received his J.D. from Yale Law School.