The United States ambassador to the United Nations is the leader of the U.S. delegation, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. The position is formally known as the permanent representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, and representative of the United States of America in the United Nations Security Council. The deputy ambassador assumes the duties of the ambassador in his or her absence. As with all United States ambassadors, the ambassador to the UN and the deputy ambassador are nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate. The ambassador serves at the pleasure of the president, and enjoys full diplomatic immunity. The U.S. permanent representative is charged with representing the United States on the UN Security Council, and during all plenary meetings of the General Assembly, except when a more senior officer of the United States (such as the secretary of state or the president of the United States) is in attendance. The current ambassador is Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate on February 23, 2021. Cabinet status Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., a leading moderate Republican who lost his seat in the United States Senate to John F. Kennedy in the 1952 elections, was appointed ambassador to the United Nations in 1953 by Dwight D. Eisenhower in gratitude for the defeated senator's role in the new president's defeat of conservative leader Robert A. Taft for the 1952 Republican nomination and subsequent service as his campaign manager in the general election; Eisenhower raised the ambassadorship to Cabinet rank in order to give Lodge direct access to him without having to go through the State Department. The ambassadorship continued to hold this status through the Reagan administration but was removed from Cabinet rank by George H. W. Bush, who had previously held the position himself. It was restored under the Clinton administration. It was not a Cabinet-level position under the George W. Bush administration (from 2001 to 2009), but was once again elevated under the Obama administration, and initially retained as such by the Trump administration. However, in December 2018, it was reported by several news organizations that the Trump administration would once again downgrade the position to non-Cabinet rank. The position was again elevated to Cabinet rank in the Biden administration. Former