WASHINGTON — Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has named John D. Brewer as associate administrator for the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Mr. Brewer is joining the F.A.S. from the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, where he worked on a range of intelligence and finance-related projects for the federal government, specifically the Departments of Defense, Justice, Homeland Security and Treasury. He also did work with private-sector clients, including Bank of America and Wachovia.

Earlier, Mr. Brewer was a senior analyst in the office of global risk assessments at the American International Group. At A.I.G. he was responsible for providing analysis internally and to large customers on business risks and global threats.

Before entering the private sector, Mr. Brewer spent longer than a decade with the federal government, serving in the State, Treasury and Defense departments, working on issues such as U.S. policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean, U.S. counter-narcotics policy and anti-money laundering/count terrorist financing programs.

"John Brewer brings years of experience from his positions in both the private and public sectors," Mr. Vilsack said. "His expertise on U.S. intelligence policy and U.S.-Latin American relations will be helpful as F.A.S. works to meet the challenges of expanding overseas opportunities for American agriculture and addressing global food security."

A graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Mr. Brewer has bachelor’s degrees in history and English and a master’s degree in diplomatic history from the London School of Economics. He is a native of Florence, S.C.

The F.A.S. is responsible for the Department’s international activities, including export credit guarantee programs, market development and international food aid, trade negotiations, international development and the collection and analysis of market information.