Rachel Cooke was the US Consul General in Perth from August 2016 to August 2019, with responsibilities for Western Australia. A career Foreign Service Officer, Ms Cooke was the deputy director of the Department of State office that oversees bilateral policy between the US and six southeast Asian nations. Prior to that, she spent five years working on Afghanistan issues, focusing primarily on education development and media engagement, and leading joint civilian-military training. Ms Cooke has also served in Malaysia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, where she was acting public affairs officer during the 2005 and 2010 revolutions. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, she worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA. Ms Cooke was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand teaching fish farming. She has a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology, and Master degrees in Environmental Management and Public Policy from Indiana University.
