We reported yesterday that the US government was planning to lift sanctions slapped on Speaker Anita Among and ministers Agnes Nandutu and Mary Goretti Kitutu.
We also reported that the new Donald Trump administration was planning to reinstate Uganda’s AGOA status, which Joe Biden suspended in December 2023.
Trump prepares to lift sanctions on Anita Among, reinstate AGOA deal
Our highly placed sources in the government told Bbeg Media that the effort is being led by senior officials in the US State Department, many of whom were recently appointed to their positions by Trump.
Yet the question is: who are these officials? What is their background?
Below is a profile of the three officials leading these efforts.
*******************
David H. Gamble Jr. (First left in the picture)
Gamble Jr is the head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination (S/SC). He leads overall sanctions strategy and policy for the Department of State and is the lead representative of the United States in diplomatic engagement on sanctions matters. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor.
Gamble served as an Economic Counselor in the Philippines, including a year as Acting Deputy Chief of Mission. His domestic assignments include Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Department of State’s Office of Conventional Arms Threat Reduction.
He served as Director for Russia and Central Asia at the National Security Council. His overseas diplomatic postings include Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, the Philippines (twice), Poland, and Russia. He is a retired Army Reserve officer who has served in Korea and Afghanistan.
While in the private sector, he was a national security consultant at MPRI and Booz Allen Hamilton. His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, the National Security Council’s Outstanding Service Award, and multiple Department of State Superior Honor Awards.
Gamble is a graduate of the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School. A graduate of the College of William and Mary, he speaks Russian and Polish.
Albert T. Gombis (middle in blue tie)
Gombis is the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights who assumed office on January 20, 2025, the day Trump was sworn in as president.
A graduate of Wheaton College (Illinois), Georgetown University Law Center, and National Defense University, Gombis has been a Department of State employee since interning in 1991. Gombis is also a U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate in the Reserves, having been commissioned in 1998.
He is a Member of the Bar in Illinois and Washington, D.C., and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the U.S. Federal District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois and the District of Maryland, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Troy Fitrell (On the right in the picture)
Fitrell leads the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs. He recently served as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea.
He previously held positions as Director of the Offices of West African Affairs and Southern African Affairs, as Chargé d’Affaires and as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassies in Ethiopia and Mauritius, and as Deputy Director of the Office of International Security Cooperation in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
He served as a Pearson Fellow on the staff of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was a Watch Officer in the Department’s Nuclear Risk Reduction Center. He also served overseas at the U.S. embassies in Portugal, Guatemala, Zambia, Ghana, and Denmark.
Fitrell earned a B.A. at the University of Maryland and an M.S. at the National War College. He is the recipient of a Presidential Rank Award, the Cobb Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development, the Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Labor Affairs, and numerous superior and meritorious awards.
He speaks French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Swedish.
