Sunday, October 4, 2009

Officially In: James B. Warlick, Jr. to Sofia

Extracted from CIA World Factbook Europe Map

On October 1 President Obama announced his intent to nominate James B. Warlick, Jr., to be Ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria. The WH released the official bio below:

James B. Warlick, a senior member of the foreign service, is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO) since April 2006, with responsibility for U.S. foreign policy at the United Nations and a number of other multilateral organizations. Prior to that Mr. Warlick was Director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs, responsible for political-military and security issues for Europe and the former Soviet Union, including NATO, OSCE, and related arms control and nonproliferation policy issues (2005-2006). While Director of the United Nations Political Affairs in IO during 2003-2005, Mr. Warlick also served as Principal Advisor to Ambassador L. Paul Bremer from January 2004 to July 2004 in Baghdad, Iraq. Other assignments have included: Consul General, U.S. Embassy, Moscow; Director, for Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the European Affairs Bureau; Acting Minister-Counselor/ Deputy Counselor for Political Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Germany; Special Assistant to the Secretary of State; Operations Center Watch Officer; Consular Officer, Philippines; and Political Officer, Bangladesh. Prior to his State Department service, Mr. Warlick served as Deputy Representative of the Asia Foundation in Washington, DC and the Philippines; and he was a Foreign Affairs analyst in the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress. Mr. Warlick is a graduate of Stanford University, holds a Master of Letters in Politics from Wadham College, Oxford University, and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

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Legation Sofia had been raised to Embassy status on Nov 28, 1966 with Minister John McSweeney in charge pending his own promotion to the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. McSweeney was followed by a succession of thirteen career diplomats as US Ambassador in Sofia, including John Beyrle, the current US Ambassador to Moscow. The most recent ambassador, Nancy E. McEldowney has been appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. If confirmed, Mr. Warlick would take over the reins of running US Embassy Sofia from John M. Ordway, the current Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy.

Mr. Warlick is also married to Mary Warlick, President Obama’s nominee to be his ambassador to Serbia. If both nominees are confirmed, they would be the Obama Administration’s first tandem ambassadors, and they would be serving in the same continent. They would also join only two three other couples in the Foreign Service in recent memory, serving simultaneously as ambassadors:

  • William R. Brownfield (Chile 2002-2004; Venezuela 2004-2007; Colombia 2007-present) and Kristie Kenney (Ecuador 2002-2005; Philippines 2006 -present).
  • Richard Olson (UAE 2008-present) and Deborah Jones (Kuwait 2008-present).
  • Charles Ries (Greece 2004- 2007) and Marcie Ries (Albania 2004-2007).

Related Item:

Updated @10:29pm: Thanks to MS. I updated Ambassador Brownfield's ambassadorial appointments including his current one in Bogota, Colombia). Updated 10/14: Thanks to NDS for the Olson-Jones addition to the tandem ambassadors.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

FYI, Ambassador Brownfield is not presently serving in Venezuela. He has been the US ambassador to Colombia since 2007.

Anonymous said...

I should have known that since I have posted about Bogota previously here. Alas, not enough coffee! Thanks for calling my attention to it. I have updated the post. Much appreciated.

Matt Keene said...

Ambassador Rick Olson in the UAE and Ambassador Deborah Jones in Kuwait are also a tandem.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the addition NDS. I have added them to the list.