Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Officially In: James B. Foley to Zagreb

Ban Josip Jelačić main squareImage via Wikipedia

On June 19, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate James B. Foley to be Ambassador to the Republic of Croatia. Official bio released by the WH below:

James B. Foley, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, has served as the State Department’s Senior Coordinator for Iraqi Refugee Issues since 2007, working to alleviate the plight of several million Iraqis displaced by the war.

Previously, Mr. Foley served as faculty member and Deputy Commandant of the National War College from 2006-2007, as Diplomat-in-Residence at the State University of New York at Fredonia from 2005-2006, and as U.S. Ambassador to Haiti from 2003-2005.

He joined the Foreign Service in 1983 and served overseas as vice consul and political officer in Manila, Philippines from1984-1986 and as political officer in Algiers, Algeria from1986-1988. Mr. Foley was subsequently a speechwriter and adviser to former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger from 1989-1993 and Deputy Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General in Brussels, Belgium from 1993-1996. He was special assistant to the late Senator Paul Coverdell from 1996-1997 under the State Department’s Pearson Fellowship program, and served as State Department Deputy Spokesman and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs from 1997-2000. Mr. Foley received his B.A. from the State University of New York at Fredonia and an M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

* * *

If confirmed, Mr. Foley would succeed Robert Anthony Bradtke, a career diplomat who was appointed US Ambassador to Croatia in 2006. Embassy Zagreb was opened Aug 25, 1992, with Ronald Nietzke as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. In the short history of the US diplomatic presence in Croatia, the only non-career appointee ever to serve there was Peter W. Galbraith of Vermont who was US Ambassador from June 1993-Jannuary 1998.

Related Item: President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 6-19-09

No comments: