New US public affairs officer has Jamaican ties

A career foreign service agent with strong ties to Jamaica, Jeremiah Knight, is the new counsellor for public affairs at the United States Embassy in Kingston.

Knight entered the US Foreign Service in the summer of 2003 with his first assignments as consular officer in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and in Santiago, Chile.

In Islamabad, Pakistan, he served as the deputy spokesperson and assistant press attache of the US Embassy.

Knight later held the position of special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.

ROLE IN WASHINGTON

While in Washington, DC, he took on the role of director of the Hometown Diplomats, Intergovernmental Affairs Programs in the Bureau of Public Affairs.

He also served as special assistant to the Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, and transitioned to the Strategic Planning Office of the Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

He returned to the Dominican Republic, where he was assigned as the embassy's press attachÈ. His most recent position was public affairs officer at the US Embassy in Juba, South Sudan.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Knight is the youngest of four siblings having Jamaican heritage from his paternal side.

He graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta and also studied at the University of Westminster in London, England.

Apart from his work as a US Foreign Service officer, he has been engaged in civil society. During his time in the Dominican Republic, he was principally responsible for the creation of Santo Domingo International, a non-profit organisation based in the foreign ministry that sought to provide untenured and junior officers from all diplomatic missions (and NGOs) a forum for intercultural exchanges.

Knight has received the State Department's Superior Honor, Meritorious Honor and the Benjamin Franklin Awards for excellence in public diplomacy.