Paula J. Dobriansky was nominated by President Bush on March 12, 2001, unanimously confirmed by the Senate on April 26, and on May 1, sworn in as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs. On July 29, 2005, she became Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs. In this capacity, she is responsible for a broad range of foreign policy issues, including democracy, human rights, labor, refugee and humanitarian relief matters, and environmental/science issues. She has also been designated as the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues.

Prior to her appointment, Dr. Dobriansky served as Senior Vice President and Director of the Washington Office of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was responsible for managing the Council's office and operations in D.C. and for leading Council meetings, study groups, and seminars that served over 1,000 area members. She was also the Council's first George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Previously, Dr. Dobriansky served as Senior International Affairs and Trade Advisor at the law firm of Hunton & Williams, and also as Co-Chair of the International TV Council at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Her government appointments include Associate Director for Policy and Programs at the United States Information Agency, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Deputy Head of the U.S. Delegation to the 1990 Copenhagen Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), Advisor to the U.S. Delegation to the 1985 U.N. Decade for Women Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, and Director of European and Soviet Affairs at the National Security Council, the White House.

Dr. Dobriansky received a B.S.F.S. summa cum laude in International Politics from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Soviet political/military affairs from Harvard University. She is a Fulbright-Hays scholar, Ford and Rotary Foundation Fellow, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a recipient of various honors, including Georgetown University's Annual Alumni Achievement Award, the State Department's Superior Honor Award, Dialogue on Diversity’s International Award 2001, National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Democracy Service Medal, Poland's Highest Medal of Merit, Grand Cross of Commander of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Westminster College, Roger Williams University and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Flagler College.

Dr. Dobriansky has served on various boards, including the Western NIS Enterprise Fund, National Endowment for Democracy (Vice Chairman), Freedom House, American Council of Young Political Leaders, and the American Bar Association Central/East European Law Initiative, and the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. She has a working knowledge of French, Russian Italian and Dutch.

Dr. Dobriansky has lectured and published articles, book chapters and op-ed pieces on foreign affairs-related topics, ranging from U.S. human rights policy to East European foreign and defense policies, public diplomacy, democracy promotion strategies, Russia and Ukraine. For three years, she hosted Freedom's Challenge and co-hosted Worldwise, the international affairs programs on National Empowerment Television. Additionally, she has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN Headline News, CNN & Company, Fox Morning News, John McLaughlin's One-on-One, The McLaughlin Group, C-SPAN, MSNBC, PBS, National Public Radio, and has testified often before the Senate Foreign Relations and House International Relations Committees.