Several current and former federal officials are included in the lineup of readers and intercessors, including Wendy Sherman, a US deputy secretary of state; Condoleezza Rice, a former secretary of state and a former student of Albright’s father; and Susan Rice, who leads the White House Domestic Policy Council.
Several other Biden officials are expected to be in attendance, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough and US climate envoy John Kerry, a former secretary of state.
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, former Vice President Al Gore, and former secretaries of defense Ash Carter, Chuck Hagel and Bill Cohen will attend as well.
Along with several honorary pallbearers, the pallbearers at Wednesday’s service will be comprised of Albright’s diplomatic security service and protective detail during her time as an ambassador and as secretary of state.
Born Marie Jana Korbelova, the daughter of a Czechoslovakian diplomat, in Prague in 1937, Albright escaped her home country with her family 10 days after the Nazi invasion. Her experience growing up in communist Yugoslavia and then fleeing to the US made her a lifelong opponent of totalitarianism and fascism.
Albright became a face of US foreign policy in the decade between the end of the Cold War and the war on terror triggered by the September 11, 2001, attacks — an era heralded by President George H.W. Bush as a “new world order.” The US, particularly in Iraq and the Balkans, built international coalitions and occasionally intervened militarily to roll back autocratic regimes. Albright — a self-identified “pragmatic idealist” who coined the term “assertive multilateralism” to describe the Clinton administration’s foreign policy — drew from her childhood experiences growing up in and fleeing Yugoslavia to shape her worldview.
Following her tenure as secretary of state, Albright served as chairwoman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington from 2001 to her death, and she taught at Georgetown University. Albright was also a prolific author, penning seven New York Times bestsellers.
At Wednesday’s service, former teaching assistants who worked in Albright’s classes at Georgetown are expected to serve as ushers.
CNN’s Devan Cole and Caroline Kelly contributed to to this story.