Michele Kelemen
Michele Kelemen has been with NPR for two decades, starting as NPR's Moscow bureau chief and now covering the State Department and Washington's diplomatic corps. Her reports can be heard on all NPR News programs, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
As Diplomatic Correspondent, Kelemen has traveled with Secretaries of State from Colin Powell to Mike Pompeo and everyone in between. She reports on the Trump administration's "America First" foreign policy and before that the Obama and Bush administration's diplomatic agendas. She was part of the NPR team that won the 2007 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for coverage of the war in Iraq.
As NPR's Moscow bureau chief, Kelemen chronicled the end of the Yeltsin era and Vladimir Putin's consolidation of power. She recounted the terrible toll of the latest war in Chechnya, while also reporting on a lighter side of Russia, with stories about modern day Russian literature and sports.
Kelemen came to NPR in September 1998, after eight years working for the Voice of America. There, she learned the ropes as a news writer, newscaster and show host.
Michele earned her Bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Russian and East European Affairs and International Economics.
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The president was joined virtually by the leaders of Japan, India and Australia, in his first multilateral leaders' meeting. They launched a plan to boost vaccine production and distribution in Asia. -
The Biden administration pledges a foreign policy that delivers to middle-class Americans. Linking up to locales across the country — outside D.C. — could help with that, according to a new report. -
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making the global rounds virtually, with Canada and Mexico as his first stops.
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President Biden sought to turn the page on the Trump administration's "America First" ethos in a speech to the Munich Security Conference where he tried to repair frayed ties with European allies. -
The Senate confirmed Antony Blinken as President Biden's secretary of state on Tuesday. The vote was 78-22. As the top U.S. diplomat, Blinken will face an array of national security challenges. -
"Humility and confidence should be the flip sides of America's leadership coin," Blinken will testify at his Senate confirmation hearing, vowing to work for the "greater good." -
President-elect Biden's promise of a firm response to the latest hacking attack attributed to Russia signals a much tougher assessment of Vladimir Putin than President Trump's deferential attitude.
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"We will continue to fight and speak and raise our voices," says Belarusian athlete Yelena Leuchanka. "The face of what is happening in Belarus is largely the face of women," says an ex-U.S. diplomat. -
Mike Pompeo's critics see his trip to Georgia, less than a month before key Senate runoff races, as another example of the secretary of state breaking norms by getting involved in domestic politics. -
The new rules reduce the maximum validity of U.S. business and tourist visas held by Party members and their families from 10 years to one month. China calls the action part of a "Cold War mentality."
