USA
President Joe Biden has nominated Bangladeshi-American diplomat and entrepreneur M. Osman Siddique to the National Security Education Board (NSEB). This board plays a pivotal role in offering strategic guidance and oversight for the National Security Education Program.
Siddique brings a wealth of experience to this appointment, having served as the first American Muslim US Ambassador to assume the role of Chief of Mission anywhere. His previous diplomatic role included ambassadorship to the Fiji Islands. Among the 14-member National Security Education Board, Siddique will be one of six Presidential appointees, joining other experts from non-profit organizations and academia.
M. Osman Siddique (born 1950) is an American politician, former ambassador, and author. He served as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Fiji and to the Republic of Nauru, to the Kingdom of Tonga and to Tuvalu from 1999 to 2001. He was the US Ambassador during the 2000 Fijian coup d’état. Siddique is the first American Muslim to be appointed as an Ambassador from the United States.
In 1976, he formed ITI/Travelogue, Inc., a corporate travel management company, which the State Department said became “one of the top minority-owned businesses in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area and one of the largest travel management companies in the nation.” He served as its president and chief executive officer before entering public service. He was also a founding member of CorpNet International, which says it is “a consortium of domestic and international travel management companies, with revenues in excess of $1.5 billion.”
Siddique is the son of the late Dr. Muhammad Osman Ghani, a former Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University, former Pakistan’s Ambassador, and former Member of the Bangladesh Parliament. His brothers are Osman Yousuf, a businessman and member of the Democratic National Committee, and Dr. M. Osman Farruk, a former Education Minister of Bangladesh.
This nomination underscores the Biden administration’s commitment to diversity and expertise in addressing national security challenges. If confirmed, Siddique’s tenure on the NSEB is poised to contribute significantly to shaping strategic initiatives and policies aimed at enhancing national security education and preparedness.
