The US State Department has unveiled its annual accounting to publicize details of tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts from foreign leaders to President Joe Biden and his family in 2023, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Includes the most valuable gift of a $20,000 diamond from .
All federal employees are required by U.S. law to report gifts worth $480 or more from foreign government sources. The top recipients of foreign gifts were the president, first lady, and vice president Kamala Harris, who, given their positions, The Washington Post Reported
National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan, Secretary of State Anthony Blanken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were among the top US officials who received several gifts.
The State Department’s Office of the Chief of Protocol unveiled its report a day earlier to provide a glimpse into the practice of gift-giving in diplomatic settings to rulers, top government officials and Secret Service officials.
It said Modi gifted a 7.5-carat lab-grown diamond estimated to be worth $20,000 in the presence of the President.
During his first official visit to the United States, Modi received a gift of a vintage American camera and a signed copy of “Collected Poems of Robert Frost,” The Washington Post reported.
At the time, the White House had said Modi would receive an early 20th-century hand-crafted ancient American book, Gilley, as an official gift.
India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also presented gifts to his US counterpart Sullivan in 2023.
Sullivan’s grand gifts included a silver statue in January 2023 and a wooden elephant statue in July 2023.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif gifted President Biden a carpet worth $525 in 2022, while Masood Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, gifted a carpet worth $600 to Senior Director of the US Government Aileen Laubacher in 2023.
The majority of the gifts the Bidens received were transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration, an independent agency of the US government within the executive branch.
According to the federal agency, a modern-day president can receive up to 15,000 gifts a year.
According to the report, several employees of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), including its director William J. Burns, received lavish gifts worth more than $132,000, including watches, diamond jewelry and perfume.
Two dozen gifts to CIA employees listed in the report were “destroyed,” including an Omega watch worth $11,000 given to Burns.
The report did not say who gave the destroyed gifts, read the US publication.
He cited US Code, which states that an agency head within the intelligence community may request the exclusion of certain information “if the publication of such information would affect the intelligence sources or methods of the United States.” can have a negative effect”.
A CIA employee found a women’s jewelry set, including a necklace, bracelet, ring, and earrings, among the destroyed gifts.