Staunch supporter of German-American friendship: DAAD alumna Dr Karen Donfried stands for cross-border exchange par excellence — in top political positions and not least in view of current challenges.

She builds bridges: Dr Karen Donfried has bolstered transatlantic relations in an extraordinary way over many years now – and she combines science and politics in an impressive professional career. For the past year, the DAAD alumna has been heading the Research Service of the American Congress. The service is part of the Library of Congress, one of the largest libraries in the world, and it is highly respected across parties for its objectivity and analytical power. In 1991, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) also marked the beginning of Karen Donfried’s professional career: For ten years she worked there as a specialist in American-European relations.

After that, she went to the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), a long-standing think tank for transatlantic partnership. Later, Karen Donfried would lead the organisation as its president prior to her appointment in 2021 as the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department during the Biden administration. German-American relations have always figured prominently in Donfried’s professional life. She says: “I am still impressed by the depth and breadth of the relationship.” She herself experienced that relationship on a personal level early on.

Kindergarten in Heidelberg

Karen Donfried’s paternal grandparents came from Germany. Her father, Karl Donfried, after studying at Columbia University and Harvard, earned his doctorate on New Testament Theology in Heidelberg in 1968. His wife Katharine and the two first-born children, Paul and Karen, accompanied him to Germany. “I attended a German kindergarten and spoke German fluently before we returned to the States,” says Karen Donfried. At school in the U.S., she was teased for her unusual accent when she spoke English. “I vowed never to speak German again. And I managed to do just that until I started high school,” she says today with a smile. 

Perhaps this early experience is the reason for Karen Donfried’s certain sensitivity when it comes to exchange, encounters with people and dealing with new and unfamiliar things. A “great teacher” in high school gave her a new understanding of the German language. Later she earned a bachelor’s degree in German and Government from Wesleyan University. Donfried did her Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts – and earned a Master’s degree at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich as a DAAD scholarship holder. “The time in Munich was wonderful,” she says. Not least, the encounters with people at the university and in everyday life had an impact on her: Her ties to the German language were also strengthened on a long-term basis. “I speak French too, but not nearly as fluently as German. My German has a firm foundation.” To this very day, Karen Donfried is grateful to the DAAD for funding her studies in Munich: “The support provided by the DAAD to students and researchers is of inestimable value. I have benefited from that experience throughout my career.”

After completing her graduate studies, Karen Donfried contemplated the question of whether she wanted to devote her professional life to academia. “I knew that world through my father, and the prospect of writing and teaching as a scholar appealed to me. However, in the end I did not opt for the academic life. I chose the Congressional Research Service. That was a crucial step in my life.”

At the centre of America’s political power

The Congressional Research Service demands scholarly depth and accuracy; at the same time, it has a direct link to the centre of America’s political power. Karen Donfried worked there as a specialist for European issues from 1991 until 2001 — at a time when the continent was being rearranged following the end of the Cold War, and the United States was a close partner of reunified Germany. The German-American partnership was foundational to the creation of the German Marshall Fund that Karen Donfried joined for the first time in 2001. She left first for a stint at the State Department, and then later for positions at the National Intelligence Council and National Security Council. The DAAD alumna returned to GMF in 2014, when she became the first female president in the history of the organisation, which was founded in 1972.

Support for Ukraine

Karen Donfried led GMF for seven years. She was committed not only to the German-American relationship, but also to transatlantic partnership. GMF, headquartered in Washington, D.C., at that time also had offices in Berlin, Ankara, Belgrade, Brussels, Bucharest, Paris, and Warsaw. One area of focus at GMF was bolstering civil society in Ukraine and when Donfried was appointed Assistant Secretary of State in 2021, she continued U.S. support for the country. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The U.S., together with its European allies, provided significant assistance to Ukraine to help it push back Russian forces and defend Ukraine’s sovereignty. That war continues today.

Transatlantic partnership, long-standing as it may be, is no longer something to take for granted. Under Donald Trump, the American government is pursuing some less traditional approaches. Karen Donfried says: “We must recognize the fact that many frustrated voters no longer see the value of liberal democracy in and of itself, and question whether government is delivering for them. Donald Trump understood and channelled this frustration, this anger, grounded in fear of the future and economic hardship.” She points out that this is not a phenomenon that is limited to the United States; in Germany, for instance, the AfD benefits from the crisis of liberal democracy. 

Karen Donfried still believes in the value of dialogue and openness. At the helm of the Congressional Research Service, she works for an informed perspective in politically polarised times. Given their rich history and wide-ranging complexity, transatlantic relations are likely to survive the current crises, Donfried thinks. The DAAD is of great importance here: “What the DAAD does for cultural exchange is invaluable and endures over time. It is for those reasons and many more that the DAAD can celebrate 100 years of meaningful impact in 2025.”

Johannes Göbel (18 September 2025)