Bob Leavitt serves as Deputy Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance.  Mr. Leavitt has over twenty years’ experience managing humanitarian and development assistance programs and national security policies.  From 2012 until joining the Bureau in September 2014, Mr. Leavitt served as the USAID Executive Secretary and Senior Advisor for National Security Affairs.

While on detail from USAID, Mr. Leavitt served as the Director of African Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House from 2009 to 2012.  At the National Security Council, Mr. Leavitt led interagency processes on west and central Africa and staffed the President’s meetings with African heads of state. 

Mr. Leavitt joined USAID in 2001 as a Conflict Resolution specialist in the Bureau for Africa.  He provided technical and operational support in shaping and implementing U.S. Government policies, strategies, and programs in conflict-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, securing $45 million for conflict mitigation programs.  Mr. Leavitt also served for a year and a half as the Agency’s lead representative to the Department of Defense for the planning and establishment of U.S. Africa Command.

Based in sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Leavitt worked with Catholic Relief Services from 1994 through 2000 where he managed humanitarian and development programs, often during complex emergencies, in Angola, southern Sudan, northern Uganda, Ethiopia, and Liberia.

Mr. Leavitt attended the U.S. War College at the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and earned a Master of Advanced Military Arts and Sciences degree.  He holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and English from the University of New Hampshire.