Bio
Maryum Saifee is a U.S. diplomat.
Ms. Saifee is currently a senior advisor in the newly launched Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy at the U.S. Department of State. Ms. Saifee started her Foreign Service career in Cairo at the start of the Arab uprisings in 2011. She later served in Baghdad during the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq and was spokesperson for the U.S. Consulate in Lahore. In Washington, she was a senior advisor in the Secretary’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, the Secretary’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs, and Bureau of International Organization Affairs.
Prior to joining the State Department, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan and an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Seattle. She also consulted for the United Nations Development Program, Acumen Fund, and the Ford Foundation.
In 2018, Ms. Saifee took a sabbatical from the State Department to pursue a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship where she worked with the Human Rights Foundation. In her personal capacity, she also led a 30-person task force "Transforming State into a More Just, Equitable, and Innovative Institution" on State Department reform as a senior visiting fellow at the Truman Center for National Policy. In 2022, she participated in the Truman Center for National Policy task force on City and State Diplomacy. She also co-curated a Foreign Service Journal double feature on Subnational Diplomacy. She has appeared on Al Jazeera, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and CNN and written for the Guardian, Just Security, Ms. Magazine, and the Foreign Service Journal.
Ms. Saifee is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She is a Council on Foreign Relations life member, Truman National Security Fellow, British American Project Fellow, Presidential Leadership Scholar, Women inPower Fellow, and serves on the boards of Muslim Americans in Public Service, the International Career Advancement Program Alumni Association, and the editorial board of the Foreign Service Journal.
Full CV at this link.
Twitter: Maryum Saifee (@MaryumSaifee) / Twitter
LinkedIn: Maryum Saifee | LinkedIn