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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Former national security adviser Mike Waltz defended his use of the encrypted Signal app during a Senate confirmation hearings Tuesday on his nomination as President Trump's ambassador to the U.N.
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Former national security adviser Mike Waltz, removed from office amid the Signal chat controversy, spent Tuesday in the Senate confirmation hearing for his nomination as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. -
The State Department is slashing hundreds of jobs in what's being called its biggest shake-up in decades — drawing sharp criticism from former diplomats who say the cuts risk gutting America's diplomatic muscle. -
Hundreds of State Department staff are bracing for layoffs after a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for sweeping federal cuts — and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is slashing deep.
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The Trump administration has cut international aid with little push back from the GOP-led Senate. So on Thursday, two Democratic senators are holding their own hearing on how it's affecting farmers.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio faces another grilling on Capitol Hill, a day after his testy exchanges with his former colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to streamline the State Department by eliminating 132 offices and about 700 jobs, including positions focused on promoting democracy and human rights.
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Ukrainian military officers are meeting with American politicians, church leaders and others to dispel what they say are the myths of Russia's war.
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U.S. humanitarian relief teams are usually among the first to respond to major disasters. But Friday's deadly earthquake in Myanmar came as the Trump administration fired USAID's remaining employees.
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The U.S. Institute of Peace, a think tank funded by Congress, was the scene of a hostile takeover by the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE has tried to install new leadership at the institute.
