While working at the White House, Fried played a peripheral role in implementing U.S. policy on Euro-Atlantic security, including NATO enlargement and the Russia–NATO relationship.

From the time of his Senate confirmation in April 2005 [7] until early-2009, Fried served as the top U.S. diplomat responsible for Europe, with the official title assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.

[9] As special envoy, Fried sat on an inter-agency committee chaired by Attorney General Eric Holder that was to review the remaining captives' cases.

[15] According to Michelle Shephard, writing in the Toronto Star, Fried had a staff of just four: Tony Ricci, Mike Williams, Karen Sasahara and Brock Johnson.

[16] On January 28, 2013 Charlie Savage, writing in The New York Times reported that Fried would be reassigned, and wrote that according to: "...an internal personnel announcement ... no senior official in President Obama’s second term will succeed Mr.

However, approximately five months later, the Obama administration appointed a new special envoy,[17] Washington lawyer Clifford Sloan, to fill the chief diplomatic role, working in close coordination with a Pentagon-based counterpart, Paul Lewis.

"[20] In mid-2008, reporter Helene Cooper of The New York Times wrote that an anonymous administration official described Fried as a foreign policy "hawk"[21] on the issue of whether the U.S. should give military aid to the nation of Georgia in its territorial dispute with Russia.