Ambassador Randi Charno Levine is a distinguished fellow in the Transatlantic Security Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Levine served as the United States ambassador to Portugal from 2022 to 2025, after being unanimously confirmed by the US Senate. A national advocate for the arts and cultural diplomacy leader, Ambassador Levine has led efforts to enhance diplomatic, commercial, educational, cultural, and defense collaborations between Portugal and the United States. As ambassador, she was responsible for advancing US political and economic policy, including strengthening defense cooperation and enhancing commercial opportunities. In 2023, she led a bilateral trade and investment mission to develop relationships between US and Portuguese companies in the renewable energy and critical minerals sectors to spur investment and diversify supply chains. Ambassador Levine also led on the arts and music diplomacy, raising the visibility of programs such as the State Department’s Art in Embassies program and the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative.

Ambassador Levine also led the Lisbon Cyber Working Group from July 2021 to June 2023, which was awarded a National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation for denying a foreign adversary’s cyber access to a lucrative source of valuable intelligence. Prior to her service in Portugal, Ambassador Levine was a Meridian International Center trustee and chaired the Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy. She also served as a commissioner at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, where she helped curate and expand the museum’s permanent collection.

For her outstanding service, the Portuguese president awarded Ambassador Levine the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator, Portugal’s highest honor for a non-head of state. She was also named honorary professor of art and diplomacy at Portugal’s Católica University and a visiting fellow at Arizona State University’s Institute of Politics. Ambassador Levine is a board member of the Meridian International Center and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She earned her BA in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and is a published author.