Assistant Secretary Barr received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University graduating Magna Cum Laude. She has also received a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University and an Master of Surgery in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
She currently is an Assistant Secretary of State for Administration and Chief Freedom of Information Acting Officer. Prior to that, Barr was the International Affairs Advisor at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Her previous assignment was as the Executive Director for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (Extensible Authentication Protocol) within the State Department.
She served as the ambassador to Namibia from 2004 to 2007.
Assistant Secretary Barr is a career diplomat having joined the Department of State in 1979. She has held assignments in Stockholm (1980), Budapest (1982), Nairobi (1985), Khartoum (1989), Ashgabat (1998), and Kuala Lumpur, where she was Counselor for Management Affairs.
Assistant Secretary Barr has also had domestic assignments in Washington, District of Columbia She worked for the Department of State's Bureau of Personnel, Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, and while Bureau of International Organizations in the United States. Industrial Development Organization and the World Tourism Organization. Assistant Secretary Barr has also participated in the Department of State Domestic Assignment Program, also known as the Pearson Program.
This program was begun in the 1970s where Foreign Service officers are assigned outside the department in order to develop their knowledge of foreign affairs legislation and of public concerns.
The program also permits a better public understanding of United States. foreign policy. As part of this assignment, she worked with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Congressman Bennie Thompson. On December 17, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Barr to be an assistant secretary of state.
