Overview

• Since his February appointment as acting under-secretary for public diplomacy, Beattie oversaw the dismantling of the State Department’s Russian Disinformation Unit
• He is married to a Russian national whose uncle held senior political posts in Moscow and received a personal “thank you” from President Putin
• Beattie has alarmed career diplomats with past social media posts calling for Western institutions to be “infiltrated” by Putin and attacking the “globalist American empire”
• His ardent pro-Russian views have been linked to the May shutdown of the counter-Russia unit, ordered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio
• Critics note Beattie’s tenure has also included a purge of State Department staff deemed critical of former President Trump and mocking tweets aimed at Rubio