Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance

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United States Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability
Seal of the United States Department of State
Flag of an assistant secretary of state
Incumbent Paul Watzlavick (Senior Bureau Official) since May 5, 2025
Reports to	The under secretary for arms control and international security affairs
Nominator	The president of the United States
Inaugural holder	Paula A. DeSutter
Formation	2000
Website	Official Website

The assistant secretary of state for arms control, deterrence, and stability is the head of the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance. The position was created on December 12, 1999, by Secretary Albright as the assistant secretary of state for verification and compliance. The Bureau became fully operational on February 1, 2000, and was first known as the Verification and Compliance Bureau. Within the department, the assistant secretary is responsible for all matters relating to the supervision of verification and compliance with international arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements. The bureau was given its current name during the Obama administration.

President Joe Biden nominated lawyer and arms control expert Mallory Stewart for the position on June 2, 2021; she was confirmed by the Senate on March 29, 2022, and was sworn in on April 18, 2022.^[1]

The assistant secretary manages and advises the secretary of state and the under secretary of state for arms control and international security on the appropriate uses of the Key Verification Assets Fund, which supports the Department of State's preservation of critical verification assets and promotes the development of new technologies to enhance verification of existing and future arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament treaties or agreements.^[2]

The assistant secretary is also responsible for the President's Annual Report to Congress on Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control Agreements, for verifiability assessments for all international arms control and nonproliferation agreements, and for specialized compliance reports required by U.S. Senate Resolutions of ratification, such as the condition 10(c) report on the Chemical Weapons Convention.^[3]

• The Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance at the Department of State website
• The Bureau of Verification and Compliance archives
• Press Release: The Department of State's Reorganization of the Arms Control and International Security Bureaus

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