ambassador

plum is a tag

political favors

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rgn amb denmark loeb lehman heir

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AN 1 26

Danish leaders are on edge after President Donald Trump invaded Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro. A top Trump insider posted on X that Greenland might be next.

Mere hours after Trump's attack on Venezuela, right-wing podcaster Katie Miller, who is married to top Trump advisor Stephen Miller, posted a map of Greenlandon X with the U.S. stars and stripes across the land.

"SOON," she wrote.

The Guardian explained that the territory is "mineral-rich," making it appealing to Trump's ongoing efforts to secure rare-earth minerals and oil from other countries. Greenland is part of the NATO alliance.

The Guardian quoted Copenhagen’s ambassador to the U.S., Jesper Møller Sørensen, who reposted Miller’s comments, saying, "Just a friendly reminder about the US and the Kingdom of Denmark: We are close allies and should continue to work together as such. US security is also Greenland’s and Denmark’s security. Greenland is already part of NATO. The Kingdom of Denmark and the United States work together to ensure security in the Arctic. The Kingdom of Denmark has significantly boosted its Arctic security efforts - in 2025 alone, we committed USD 13,7 bn that can be used in the Arctic and North Atlantic. Because we take our joint security seriously."

"And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark," he added.

The Guardian noted that when Trump named former Gov. Jeff Landry (R-La.) as a "special envoy to Greenland," the Louisianan called it an "honor" to work on "mak[ing] Greenland a part of the US."

On Saturday, Landry celebrated Trump's arrest of Maduro.

“Having served as a sheriff’s deputy and AG, I have seen the devastating effects of illegal drugs on American families. With over 100k opioid-related deaths annually, I am grateful to see a President finally take real action in the war on drugs,” he posted on X.

“Thank you @realDonaldTrump for holding individuals like Maduro accountable," he added.

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woody johnson golf tourney UK

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GOVERNMENT FOR SALE

The long list of big-money ambassadors includes:

fURTHER REFERENCE

• Donors to the Trump inaugural committee got ambassador nominations. But are they qualified? (NBC)

• The Ukraine scandal exposes the Trump crony Pompeo really is (Vox)
• Echoes of Benghazi Criticism and Anger Confront Pompeo in Ukraine Inquiry (New York Times)
• Mike Pompeo, The Secretary of Trump (New Yorker)
• Democrats investigating whistleblower claims Pompeo’s security picked up Chinese food and his dog (CNN)
• At Embassies Abroad, Trump Envoys Are Quietly Pushing Out Career Diplomats (Foreign Policy)

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https://www.fastcompany.com/90436584/trumps-other-quid-pro-quo-is-washingtons-dirtiest-secret

12/19

no lnx twt graf pix table

trump’s fancy ambassadors: His other “quid pro quo” is DC’s biggest open secret

Gifting ambassadorships to top donors is a shameful, bipartisan tradition. Under Trump, the practice has exploded—diminishing the credibility of American foreign policy and exposing the president to new scandals.

BY ALEX PASTERNACK

Among the many questions to emerge from Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s dramatic and at times farcical testimony during Congress’s impeachment hearings is one so glaring that it’s almost hard to see: How did Sondland, a moderately successful hotelier in Portland, become the U.S. ambassador to the European Union in the first place?

Sondland, who had formerly been opposed to Trump’s nomination, waged an aggressive lobbying campaign to get into then-President-Elect Trump’s good graces—and paid $1 million for tickets to Trump inaugural celebrations. (The inaugural committee was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in New York earlier this year.) Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, asked Sondland about the donation. “That’s a lot of money, isn’t it?” Sondland grinned and replied: “That’s a lot of money.”

That’s also, of course, business as usual in Washington. Most critical ambassadorships typically go to seasoned foreign service veterans, but it’s customary for presidents to hand out many positions—about a third—to top donors and bundlers. The tradition is unique among developed countries and is technically illegal—money isn’t supposed to be a factor in political appointments—but it’s on the rise. Roughly 30% of President Barack Obama’s foreign service appointments were people with political ties—typically donors, according to a paper by Ryan Scoville, an associate professor at Marquette University Law School. Under Trump, that ratio has increased to over 40%, the highest number since Franklin Roosevelt. That shift has been accompanied by a dramatic flight of career foreign service people.

Scoville has also identified another troubling trend: in recent decades, he writes, “the credentials of the average political appointee have diminished just as the average size of campaign contributions has grown.” For some of Trump’s picks, questions about credentials have raised concerns in Congress and lengthened an already sluggish confirmation process.

In a letter last year, Senator Bob Menendez, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, gently reminded Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that all nominees must be properly vetted prior to being nominated. Some nominees, Menendez noted, had not accurately disclosed “the groups, boards, and corporate entities of which they have been a part as well as their financial contributions to political campaigns”; others “failed to disclose lawsuits against them . . . offered misleading answers to questions about knowledge of contacts with Russian officials, or made insulting and inaccurate claims about the country to which they have been nominated to serve as Ambassador.”

There were also nominees the committee had seen who “have demonstrated problems of temperament and judgement that should disqualify them for any position representing the United States,” wrote Menendez (who himself is no stranger to charges of corruption). For example, Menendez cited Richard Grenell, a former U.S. spokesperson at the U.N. and Trump’s controversial Ambassador to Germany, whose “undiplomatic and offensive comments have . . . damaged our relationship with a key ally.”

The trashing of the State Department began with a lackadaisical approach by the Trump White House. After summarily dismissing every political appointee who had served under Obama, Trump took longer than any previous president to appoint senior State Department officials and new ambassadors. For two years, the US had no ambassador in Turkey. Until September’s swearing-in of Lana Marks, a luxury handbag designer and member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, the US went three years without an ambassador in South Africa.

The State Department did not return requests for comment from Fast Company, but an agency spokesperson told NBC News earlier this year: “Our Ambassadors are proud to represent the United States of America to some of our most important partners across the globe as they carry out the goals of the Trump Administration,” adding, “These ambassadors’ financial contributions have long been a matter of public record. They are honored the President bestowed this trust upon them, and they hold their service in the highest regard.”

Corruption breeds dysfunction but also more corruption. Earlier this month, CBS uncovered evidence that another of Trump’s appointees was involved in an apparent pay-to-play effort: “Papa” Doug Manchester, a San Diego developer and Trump inaugural donorwho had been nominated as Ambassador to the Bahamas, hoped to speed up his approval process in the Senate with a $100,000 donation to the Republican National Committee. Manchester withdrew his nomination last week, and the RNC returned the funds.

Documents leaked in January 2020 indicate that the marketing firm Cambridge Analytica entered into a contract with Kenneth Braithwaite in 2016, a week before Trump’s election, and a year before Trump nominated Braithwaite to be U.S. Ambassador to Norway. A former business executive and retired rear admiral of the Navy Reserve, Braithwaite left out any mention of the company in his required government disclosure form. Additionally, Braithwaite appeared to have a conflict of interest when he presented a newly-created US Ambassador’s Award to shipping magnate Thomas Wilhelmsen, who runs Norway’s largest shipping company, and whose cousin is married to former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix.Braithwaite—whom President Trump has named as his nominee for Secretary of the Navy—has insisted that he had no relationship with the company that would have required disclosure, and told CBS News that he was unaware of the connection to Nix.

Trump’s is not the first administration to contain controversial political appointees—two of Obama’s donor-ambassadors turned out to be particularly dysfunctional—and not all donor-ambassadors make for bad diplomats; sometimes their well-heeled connections can be a diplomatic asset.

But Trump’s EU Ambassador is one glaring example of what can go wrong. As Sondland tried to outflank career US officials responsible for Ukraine policy—despite the country not being an EU member to begin with—the State Dept’s Fiona Hill told him earlier this year, “Gordon, I think this is all going to blow up.” And so it has, making it clear that moneyed ambassadors can also take American foreign policy in strange, dangerous directions.

Here are some other top donor-ambassadors in TrumpWorld whose qualifications, biographies, and connections illustrate the new (ab)normal.

Joe Cella, ambassador to Fiji, an archipelago of more than 300 islands northeast of New Zealand, as well as the republics of Kiribati and Nauru, and the kingdom of Tonga and Tuvalu, founded the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in 2004. He also cofounded the Catholic political action committee Catholic Vote, also known as Fidelis, and since 2010 has served as principal of a Catholic consulting firm the Pontifex Group. While he once signed a letter declaring Trump “manifestly unfit to be president of the United States,” Cella led the Trump campaign’s Catholic advisory council during the 2016 election.

David B. Cornstein, ambassador to Hungary, is a businessman and frequent GOP donor who has much in common with his friend Donald Trump: As AllGov reported last year, they are “both New Yorkers who have winter homes in Palm Beach, they’re both very rich and they’ve both led money-losing gambling operations.” A former member of Trump’s Florida golf club, Cornstein served as chairman of New York City’s Off-Track Betting Corporation before its financial demise. In recent years, he was chairman of Circa, a company that buys high-end used jewelry, and president of Pinnacle Advisors Limited, a private wealth management company.

His ambassadorship has been overshadowed by questions about his vocal support for the right-wing government of Hungarian President Viktor Orban, in contradiction of State Department policy. At a lavish Independence Day bash at the embassy in Budapest this summer, Paul Anka—flown in by the ambassador for the occasion—serenaded Orban with a personalized rendition of “My Way,” reported the New York Times.

In 1999, he was named chairman of TeleHubLink, a telemarketing company that produced wireless encryption products. In 2001, TeleHubLink was sued by New York’s top prosecutor for scamming consumers across the country. “Using the name Triple Gold Benefits,” New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer argued in 2001, Cornstein’s company had “promised thousands of consumers across the nation that, for an advance fee of over $200, the consumers would receive a low rate, general purpose Visa or MasterCard credit card. In fact, consumers who paid the advance fee did not receive a credit card. Instead, Telehublink sent them a ‘discount benefits package’ consisting of generally worthless items such as an application for a credit card.”

A 2001 decision by a State Supreme Court awarded restitution to victimized consumers, and, after an appeal by the company, a 2003 judgement reaffirmed the original ruling. That didn’t diminish Cornstein’s political capital: in 2001, shortly after being appointed to the board of the Battery Park City Authority, New York’s then-governor George Pataki gave Cornstein the chairmanship of the New York State Olympic Games Commission as it prepared a bid for the 2012 games. (London eventually won.)

Telehublink appeared to have profited handsomely during that time. According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cornstein’s company reported a surge in revenues, from $1 million in 1999 to over $9.2 million in 2000, in large part due to Triple Gold Benefits sales. Cornstein later donated to former nemesis Spitzer’s successful campaign for governor.

Kelly Craft, ambassador to the United Nations, along with her husband, Joseph Craft III, contributed at least $1 million to Trump’s inaugural celebrations. (The inaugural committee was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in New York earlier this year as part of a probe into possible campaign finance violations.) The Crafts also have “gold”-level status at Trump hotels, which designates customers who have stayed more than 20 times, a number the Washington Post said was “unusually high.” She’s also donated to more than half of the Repubican senators on the Foreign Relations Committee that was charged with approving her nomination. Joseph is the longtime CEO of coal giant Alliance Resource Partners, which critics say presents a conflict of interest when it comes to his wife’s role in international discussions on climate and the environment.

David Friedman, ambassador to Israel, is a bankruptcy lawyer who began representing Donald Trump in 1994 amid bankruptcies involving his Atlantic City casinos. An Orthodox Jew who speaks fluent Hebrew and the son of a New York rabbi, Friedman has clashed with American Jewish progressive groups over his support for settlements on Palestinian land in Jerusalem and the West Bank and for his donations to a far-right Jewish group. In 2016 he also donated $50,000 to the Trump campaign and the RNC.

Ronald Gidwitz, ambassador to Belgium, was a cofounder and partner at the private equity firm GCG Partners and former CEO of cosmetic firm Helene Curtis Industries, which was sold to Unilever in 1996. In 2016, he gave Trump and other Republicans $700,000 and served as the Trump campaign’s finance chair in Illinois.

A company controlled by Gidwitz once owned a high-rise housing project in the Illinois city of Joliet that was described as “inhumane” by then Senator Barack Obama, “unsafe and dangerous, a public nuisance and a blighted area” by the then-mayor, a place where residents lived in what a judge called “deplorable” standards.

Robert “Woody” Johnson, ambassador to the United Kingdom, is a great-grandson of the cofounder of Johnson & Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, and chairman of the Johnson Company, a private investment firm. He has also given over $1 million to Republicans and in 2016, cohosted at least six fundraising events for Trump. One dinner, at his East Hampton estate, charged attendees $10,000 to $25,000 apiece. Along with Duke Buchan, another Trump donor who is ambassador to Spain, Johnson has already donated at least $360,000 to the President’s reelection campaign.

Johnson follows in a long line of wealthy American donors who have lived in the London ambassador’s residence. As Matt Ford noted recently at the New Republic, “Johnson’s predecessor, Matthew Barzun, served as Obama’s national finance chairman and bundled more than $1 million for his campaign. Barzun’s predecessor, Louis Susman, reportedly earned the nickname ‘the Vacuum Cleaner’ for his fundraising skills on behalf of Democratic politicians. Susman’s predecessor, Robert Tuttle, gave more than $100,000 to George W. Bush’s campaign.”

Christine Toretti, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Malta, is an R.N.C. member and Chairman and CEO of S.W. Jack Drilling Co., the country’s largest privately held land-based drilling company, which supports oil and gas exploration in a handful of states. She sits on several corporate and institutional boards, including S&T Bank, the Lockhart Company, and The Andy Warhol Museum. In 2008, a restraining order was filed against her for “placing a bullet-riddled target sheet” in the office of her ex-husband’s doctor.

Trevor Traina, ambassador to Austria, is a tech entrepreneur and heir to the Dow Chemical fortune who sold his first company, the online shopping service CompareNet, to Microsoft in 1999. But he also wanted to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Wiley Buchanan, a former U.S. ambassador to Austria, so he studied political science at Princeton and international relations at Oxford and earned a master’s from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. And he donated. According to OpenSecrets.org, Traina donated $33,900 each, the maximum allowed, to two Republican political action committees in 2017, before his nomination, and his mother threw in an additional $31,000 to Republican PACs.

In addition to a pay cut—the ambassador receives a salary between $124,000 to $187,000–background checks, and a month-long ambassadorial “crash course” at the State Dept., Traina also had to divest his extensive stock holdings. While elected officials can put assets into a blind trust, ambassadors don’t have that option. “Almost any prominent American company whose stock I own I have to sell,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle last year. “This was painful for me.”

However, he didn’t need to give up his 10,890 square-foot, seven-bedroom home in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, which includes art pieces by Damien Hirst, Robert Rauschenberg, Diane Arbus, and Andy Warhol. After moving to Vienna last summer, he listed the place for a whopping $55,000 per month, making it the most expensive rental in one of the most expensive rental markets in the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Adrian Zuckerman, Trump’s just-confirmed ambassador to Romania, is a New York real estate lawyer who was born in the Romanian capital Bucharest and still speaks the language. He is also a member of Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. In 2008, Zuckerman faced sexual harassment claims while he was a partner at the law firm Lowenstein Sandler. At the time, both Zuckerman and Lowenstein denied the claims, which were settled on confidential terms.

Zuckerman could arrive in Bucharest to face another now-familiar-sounding controversy: Earlier this year, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, was paid by a global consulting firm to lobby the president of Romania, warning of the “excesses” of its anti-corruption drive, contradicting the U.S. government’s official position, Politico reported. At the time, the Romanian ambassador to the U.S., George Maior, said Giuliani is part of “a lobby initiated by people interested in defending figures who have problems with the justice system.” The ambassador was quickly recalled by Romania’s foreign ministry.

Sondland’s role in the Ukraine scandal has brought new attention to the problems surrounding political appointees and led to new efforts to change the tradition. Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, unveiled a bill this month that would require 70 percent of ambassadors to come from the State Department’s professional ranks.

And Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has pledged to end the practice if elected. “This is Washington corruption at its worst,” she said at the last debate. “I’ve pledged never to give ambassadorial positions to wealthy donors—and every candidate should do the same.”

So far, no other candidate has joined her.

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/1154566/

democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are investigating the events surrounding the nomination of Aldona Wos, the wife of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Canada following a report on high-dollar donations made by Salon.

Salon first reported the conspicuous alignment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from DeJoy with President Donald Trump’s February announcement of Wos as his pick to fill the cush Ottawa gig.

DeJoy, a top Trump donor and the former head fundraiser for the Republican National Convention, made a series of major donations to the Trump campaign and Senate Republicans leading up to his wife’s nomination, federal election records show.

In the weeks surrounding the nomination, DeJoy gave Trump Victory $360,600. He also gave a $35,000 maximum donation to the Senate GOP’s election committee the day after Trump announced his intention to nominate Wos.

The Senate oversees the confirmation of all U.S. ambassadors. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., the current chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), sits on the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, which is currently holding confirmation proceedings for Wos.

Previous DeJoy donations also fall within the timeline of his wife’s nomination.

DeJoy and Wos each donated $35,000 to Trump Victory on Jan. 22, 2019, according to FEC records. Following Trump’s Feb. 22 announcement that the Canadian ambassadorship would be opening up, DeJoy poured in hundreds of thousands of dollars, records show.

He gave a total of $320,000 to Trump Victory in the three months between April 3 and June 17, 2019. During that time frame, DeJoy also made his largest single donation to the fund to date: $120,000. A few days later, Trump was said to be considering Wos for the position.

Trump opted to fill the position with an acting ambassador. When the post opened again in January, DeJoy donated another $150,000 to Trump Victory in two separate chunks on Jan. 15 — at the time his largest single-day contribution.

Then, the White House announced that Trump would nominate Wos as the next U.S. ambassador to Canada on Feb. 11. The next day, DeJoy made his maximum donation of $35,000 to the NRSC, FEC flings show.

Finally, on Feb. 19, 2020, the week after the White House announcement and the NSRC donation, DeJoy made his biggest single donation to Trump Victory to date: $210,600. Six days later, Trump officially nominated Wos.

The news of fresh scrutiny from Senate Democrats comes as the Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee announced an investigation into DeJoy following a bombshell report in the Washington Post. DeJoy allegedly repeatedly urged the staff of his supply chain company to donate to Republican candidates and later reimbursed them, according to former employees. The arrangement, colloquially known as a “straw donor” scheme, is one of the few campaign finance crimes that can carry jail time.

“Reimbursing another person for political contributions is a serious campaign finance violation,” Brendan Fischer, the director of the Federal Reform Program at the Campaign Legal Center, told Salon. “Straw donations violate campaign finance law’s transparency requirements, usually constitute excessive or prohibited contributions and are made with some level of intent. A donor doesn’t accidentally ask another person to make a political contribution and then reimburse them — they do so intentionally, typically because the original donor has already maxed-out to the candidate. Plenty of people have gone to jail for straw donor schemes.”

Right-wing agitator and media personality Dinesh D’Souza was fined $30,000 and sentenced to eight months in a community confinement center after he pleaded guilty to running a straw donor scheme through his secretary. Trump pardoned D’Souza in 2018.

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head of $ for convention, gave 1.2m$ and raised more? rnc

wife nom for amb cda!

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/lawmakers-demand-removal-of-postmaster-general-dejoy-over-nefarious-efforts-to-destroy-the-postal-service

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/friday-night-massacre-at-us-postal-service-as-postmaster-general-a-major-trump-donor-ousts-top-officials

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/trumps-s-on-the-postal-service-are-hurting-democracy-and-thats-the-point/

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https://www.salon.com/2020/05/07/top-trump-donor-who-gave-more-than-2-million-to-the-gop-picked-to-run-postal-service/

A major donor to President Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee was selected as the new head of the US Postal Service on Wednesday.

Louis DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman who is heading up fundraising for the 2020 Republican National Convention, was approved by the USPS Board of Governors to become "the first postmaster general in two decades who did not rise through the agency's ranks," The Washington Post reported.

DeJoy has given more than $2 million to the Trump campaign and Republican causes since 2016, according to the report, including $1 million to the Republican National Committee and $650,000 to the Trump Victory Fund.

DeJoy's wife, Aldona Wos, has also risen through the ranks of Trumpworld. Trump nominated Wos to be ambassador to Canada earlier this year, replacing Kelly Craft, another top donor who has since been promoted to U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Wos is also the vice chair of the president's Commission on White House Fellowships. She previously served as ambassador to Estonia under former President George W. Bush.

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Several U.S. ambassadors actively shed their stock holdings as President Donald Trump tried to downplay the coronavirus outbreak in its early stages,” according to CNBC.

Ambassadors to Uruguay, France, Morocco and Italy sold shares in transactions that could have made them millions of dollars, according to financial disclosure filings reviewed by CNBC. Much of their sales were in January and continued throughout February, the records show. Their transactions line up with a timeline of federal and congressional announcements as the virus started sweeping across the globe earlier this year.

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/gop-demanded-500k-donation-from-trump-bahamas-ambassador-during-his-senate-confirmation-hearings/

no lnx

GOP demanded $500K donation from Trump Bahamas ambassador during his Senate confirmation hearings

Mitch McConnell.

Written by Brad Reed / Raw Story November 18, 2019

161

Newly uncovered emails reveal that the Republican National Committee demanded that President Donald Trump’s nominee for the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas donate $500,000 ahead of his Senate confirmation hearings.

CBS News reports that RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel asked billionaire Doug Manchester for more cash at a time when his confirmation as Bahamas ambassador had seemingly stalled.

“Would you consider putting together $500,000 worth of contributions from your family to ensure we hit our ambitious fundraising goal?” she asked him in an email.

Manchester replied and told McDaniel that he’s “not supposed to” be donating to the RNC at the same time he’s up for an ambassadorship. All the same, he said his wife would send along a check for $100,000.

He then asked McDaniel to put pressure on the Senate GOP to move his confirmation hearing along.

CBS News investigative reporter Jim Axelrod confronted Manchester about the emails and told him that “you know what this looks like.”

Manchester responded defensively and insisted that his wife’s contribution had nothing to do with getting confirmed by the Senate.

“Well — it looks like it to you,” he said. “But it’s not the facts. My wife gave out of separate funds and she in fact loves Donald Trump.”

The RNC said it was inappropriate for Manchester to link the donation to his ambassadorship nomination and added that it has since returned the money donated by the family this year.

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/selling-americas-ambassadorships/

no lnx

Selling America’s ambassadorships

Written by Washington Monthly November 8, 2019

A few years ago, I wrote an open letter to the executive producer of the popular day-time television drama The Bold and the Beautiful. I asked for a job as an actor. My acting credentials? Zero. Any show biz experience? Zilch. A soap opera fan? Nope. But I told Bradley Bell, whose wife was also a producer: “After reading about your wife Colleen being named by President Obama to be our next ambassador to Hungary, I thought, I too can realize one of my wildest dreams: become a soap opera matinée idol.” Colleen Bell had as many credentials to be an ambassador as I did of being an actor. Yet she got the position, instead, by donating more than $2 million to Obama’s campaigns.

The Bold and the Beautiful has turned out to be a veritable incubator of diplomatic talent. President Trump’s envoy to Denmark, Carla Sands, was an actress on B&B (her character slept with her girlfriend’s fiancé). What presaged her diplomatic posting? It was $350,000 in political contributions to Trump.

For all the political squalor inherent in Ukrainegate, there is one silver lining: the sterling reputations of the U.S. diplomats testifying before Congress—in defiance of White House orders—stand in stark contrast to Trump’s cynical and clownish political appointees. Take Gordon Sondland, for instance. He was a hotel chain owner, devoid of any diplomatic or government experience, who essentially purchased his position as U.S. ambassador to the European Union for a cold $1 million donation to the president’s inaugural committee.

There’s also George Glass, an Oregon real estate developer who donated more than $100,000 to Trump’s campaign. In return, he was named U.S. ambassador to Portugal. Glass is an avid propagator of the QAnon conspiracy line about a “Deep State” attempting to destroy Trump’s presidency and a cabal of Satan-worshiping Democrats who run a child sex cult. He speaks no Portuguese. Then there is former ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump ousted. Yovanovitch is a three-time ambassador with 33 years in the Foreign Service and is multilingual.

In other words, our experienced diplomats are locked out of key policy jobs while whoever was willing to write a check is representing our nation overseas. In too many cases, they are unworthy of that privilege and responsibility. Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, Lana Marks, is a handbag designer and Mar-a-Lago member who faced more than a dozen lawsuits by former lawyers, landlords, and contractors alleging fraud. She and her husband, moreover, were fined $360,641 by the IRS for failing to pay back taxes. Had she been a regular job applicant, she would have been denied a security clearance.

Selling ambassadorships is a unique form of legal American corruption, practiced by presidents of both parties. In the 18th and 19th centuries, presidents similarly used to award military officer commissions to unqualified hacks as well—until the bloody cost of incompetent “political generals” during the Civil War led to a popular outcry and legislation to abolish the practice. Auctioning off diplomatic positions, however, has remained untouched.

Pre-Trump, the percentage of “political ambassadors” traditionally hovered around 30 percent, overwhelmingly to the most desirable posts, mainly in Europe. Now, that figure is at a historical record of 45 percent, according to the American Foreign Service Association. Before Trump, research shows thatcampaign donations between “$650,000 and $700,000 generated a 90 percent probability of appointment to a [wealthy developed country] for personal and bundled campaign contributorsrespectively.”

Trump-appointed ambassadors have averaged $96,927.98 in political contributions, exceeding the previous record of $60,721.83 set by George W. Bush’s ambassadors, according to research by Marquette University law professor Ryan M. Scoville, who also has found that Trump’s picks are “less qualified” than those of prior presidents.

But, as in the case of Sondland, donations can easily exceed a million dollars. New York Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson IV was awarded the coveted ambassadorship to the United Kingdom after donating nearly $1.5 million to Trump’s campaign and inaugural committee. A million bucks seems to have gotten financier Douglas Manchester a cushy if low ranking posting in the Bahamas.

The consequences for our national security can be dire. Handbag designers and hoteliers versus veteran trained diplomats in charge of foreign policy can potentially mean the difference between war and peace. Only six of 29 U.S. ambassadors to NATO countries are career diplomats.

All of Russia’s ambassadors to NATO member states, by contrast, are, in fact, career diplomats. My research of Russian versus American NATO ambassadors during the Obama administration revealed that Russia’s envoys possessed 960 years of diplomatic experience, averaging 34 years per incumbent, in contrast to America’s ambassadors having 331 cumulative years, averaging twelve years per individual. Those embarrassing figures are even more skewed now.

Putting ambassadorships on the political auction block need not be taken as a given. One presidential candidate has promised to end it. In her plan to “rebuild the State Department,” Elizabeth Warren pledges “to put America’s national interests ahead of campaign donations and end the corrupt practice of selling cushy diplomatic posts to wealthy donors?—?and I call on everyone running for President to do the same. I won’t give ambassadorial posts to wealthy donors or bundlers?—?period.”

While the Ukraine scandal may or may not end Trump’s corruption-ridden presidency, it should nonetheless bring about an end to the disgraceful peddling of the nation’s highest diplomatic offices to wealthy dilettantes, a practice that makes the United States a global laughing stock.

In the meantime, I’m taking acting lessons.

James Bruno is a writer and former U.S. diplomat. Read his blog, DIPLO DENIZEN, and follow him on Twitter @JamesLBruno. The opinions and characterizations in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent official positions of the U.S. government.

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https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/27/did_trump_team_offer_ambassadorships_in

According to a report published in the entertainment publication TheWrap, Donald Trump’s team not only wanted major talent for the inauguration, they attempted to up the ante by trying to bring in talent bookers with access to A-listers. The incentive? Offers of government posts and ambassadorships. According to TheWrap, at least two talent bookers were offered posts. We speak to the journalist who broke the story, Itay Hod, senior reporter for TheWrap.

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...A second insider said he was offered a government post, including an ambassadorship, if he could wrangle a top artist. The insider, a talent manager, said he knew at least two other people who have been offered similar deals, but who did not wish to speak to the news media.

Asked how the subject of a possible ambassadorship came up, the second recruiter said he was offered “access to the administration.”

“They said they were in the process of  ‘figuring out posts, ambassadorships and commissions’ if that was of any interest,” the manager said.

The manager said he declined the offer and did not ask which ambassadorships were on the table.

Both men who spoke to TheWrap about the ambassadorships asked not to be identified, and both, like most in left-leaning Hollywood, supported Hillary Clinton in the election.

TheWrap spoke previously to industry insiders who said the inauguration team has its sights set on top-tier talents like Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Aretha Franklin, and were willing to pay steep fees for the performers. Perry sang at the Democratic National Convention in July, and Franklin sang at President Obama’s first inauguration.

Also Read:Mark Burnett Inauguration Pitch to Donald Trump Includes Chopper Ride From NYC

Rewarding big campaign donors, fundraisers and other loyalists with ambassadorships is nothing new. According to the American Foreign Service Association, more than 40 percent of Obama’s ambassador nominees in his second term went to political rather than career diplomats. In recent past administrations the figure was about 30 percent, according to NPR.

But handing out government posts for talent bookers is outside the norm.

One veteran inaugural organizer told TheWrap it is unusual to compensate talent and recruiters for an inauguration performance, which is usually considered a high-profile, high-prestige, patriotic gig. And the Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan group that advocates for open government and accountability, called the idea “alarming.”

“It’s bad policy to offer ambassadorships to unqualified, inexperienced individuals, no matter who is president,” spokeswoman Jenn Topper said. “The public deserves an opportunity to vet the people who will be at the forefront of our diplomatic relations, and this alleged backroom dealing is alarming.”

Ambassadors are nominated by the president, but must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate....

---

• John R. Bolton

D

• Susan Dudley

E

• Eric S. Edelman
• Gordon R. England
• Clark Ervin

F

• Sam Fox

G

• C. Boyden Gray

L

• Robert D. Lenhard

P

• Charles W. Pickering
• William H. Pryor Jr.

T

• Michael E. Toner

V

• Hans von Spakovsky

W

• Steven T. Walther
• Ellen L. Weintraub
• Sue Ellen Wooldridge

---

• A. Paul Anderson to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner August 22, 2003. [1]
• Michael J. Bartlett to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. [2]
• Warren Bell to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in December 2006. [3]
• Andrew G. Biggs was named to be Deputy Director of the Social Security Administration April 4, 2007.
• John R. Bolton as U.N. Ambassador in August 2005, after having been blocked by the Senate. Bolton was Bush's 106th recess appointment. (FSRN 1 Aug '05)
• William B. Cowen to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. [4]
• Susan E. Dudley to be Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 4, 2007.
• Eric S. Edelman as undersecretary of defense for policy to replace Douglas Feith in the No. 3 position in the Pentagon. "Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee led by Carl Levin of Michigan, their ranking member, stalled Edelman's nomination to force the release of documents related to a specialized intelligence unit Feith set up before the conflict." [5]
• Gordon R. England to be Deputy Secretary of Defense, January 4, 2006. [6]
• Alice S. Fisher to head the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice, after the "nomination stalled over tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility." [7]
• David W. Fleming to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Public) August 22, 2003. [8]
• Peter Flory as an Assistant Secretary of Defense, after having been blocked by the Senate. [[9]](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050803/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_recess_appointment;_ylt=Ak8R8ReyEPq6ji2kebwvW6es0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-)
• Sam Fox was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenifotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium on April 4, 2007.
• Cynthia A. Glassman to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and ExchangeCommission January 22, 2002.[10]
• C. Boyden Gray to be the Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the Rank and Status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary January 17, 2006.
• Jay Phillip Greene to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. [11]
• Floyd Hall to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Hall was appointed in a recess appointment. [12]
• Tracy A. Henke to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security. [13]
• Isacc C. Hunt, Jr. [14] to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002.[15]
• JoAnn Johnson to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002. [16]
• Peter N. Kirsanow to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. [17]
• Charlotte A. Lane to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. She was nominated on June 7, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [18]
• Robert D. Lenhard to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [19]
• Deborah Matz to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002.
• Ronald E. Meisburg to be General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. [20]
• Steven Kent **Mullins** to be United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota, vice James E. McMahon, January 9, 2006.[21]
• Julie L. Myers to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement), January 4, 2006. [22]
• Daniel Pearson to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. He was nominated on November 14, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [23]
• John Richard Petrocik to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. [24]
• Charles W. Pickering, Sr. to Federal Appeals Court January 17, 2004, from which he had been blocked twice by the Senate.[25][26]
• **Daniel Pipes** to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United StatesInstitute of PeaceAugust 22, 2003. [27]
• Benjamin A. Powell to be General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 4, 2006. [28]
• Anthony J. Principi as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, as well as eight members of the Commission, April 1, 2005.
• William H. Pryor, Jr. to 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals February 20, 2004, "in the face of a Democratic filibuster of the nomination." [29][30]
• Otto Juan Reich to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs January 11, 2002. [31]
• Ellen R. Sauerbrey to be Assistant Secretary of State (Population, Refugees, and Migration), January 4, 2006. [32]
• Eugene Scaliato Solicitor of Labor in the U.S. Department of Labor January 11, 2002.
• Peter C. Schaumber to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, for the remainder of a five-year term expiring on August 27, 2010. [33]
• Dorrance Smith to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, January 4, 2006. [34]
• Enrique J. Sosa to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Sosa was appointed in a recess appointment. [35]
• Michael E. Toner to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission March 29, 2002, for the remainder of a term expiring April 30, 2007; first announced November 21, 2001, and nomination sent to Senate March 4, 2002. [36]
• Juanita Alicia Vasquez-Gardner to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. She was nominated on July 24, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. [37]
• Hans von Spakovsky to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [38]
• Dennis P. Walsh to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 17, 2006.
• Steven T. Walther to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. [39]
• John Paul Woodley, Jr. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) August 22, 2003. [40]

==

Ambassadorial Appointments - George W. Bush

Total Appointments: 453

Career Appointments: 317/69.98%

Political Appointments: 136/30.02%

Afghanistan Robert Patrick John Finn Career 2002-2003

Zalmay Khalilzad Political 2003-2005

Ronald Neumann Career 2005-2007

William B. Wood Career 2007-2009

African Union Cindy Courville Political 2006-2009 ok

Albania James Franklin Jeffrey Career 2002-2004

Marcie B. Ries Career 2004-2007

John Withers Career 2007-2010

Algeria Richard W. Erdman Career 2003-2006

Robert S. Ford Career 2006-2008

David Pearce Career 2008-2011

Angola Christopher William Dell Career 2001-2004

Cynthia Efird Career 2004-2007

Dan Mozena Career 2007-2010

Argentina Lino Gutierrez Career 2003-2006

Earl Anthony Wayne Career 2006-2009

Armenia John M. Ordway Career 2001-2004

John M. Evans Career 2004-2006

Marie Yovanovitch Career 2008-2011

APEC Lauren Moriarty Career 2004-2005

Michael Michalak Career 2005-2007

Patricia Haslach Career 2007-2009

ASEAN Scot Marciel Career 2007-2010

Australia J. Thomas Schieffer Political 2001-2005

Robert D. McCallum Political 2005-2009 skull and bones  http://www.nndb.com/people/891/000120531/

Austria Lyons Brown, Jr. Political 2001-2005 http://2001-2009.state.gov/outofdate/bios/b/6832.htm

Susan R. McCaw Political 2005-2007 $$ http://www.muckety.com/Susan-R-McCaw/9965.muckety

David F. Girard-diCarlo Political 2008-2009 blank rome

Azerbaijan Reno Harnish Career 2003-2006

Anne Derse Career 2006-2009

Bahamas J. Richard Blankenship Political 2001-2003 $ http://www.nndb.com/people/782/000122416/

John D. Rood Political 2004-2007 $ http://www.nndb.com/people/413/000119056/  http://2001-2009.state.gov/outofdate/bios/r/38692.htm

Ned L. Siegel Political 2007-2009  http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=119070

Bahrain Ronald E. Neumann Career 2001-2004

William T. Monroe Career 2004-2007

Joseph Adam Ereli Career 2007-2011

Bangladesh Harry K. Thomas, Jr. Career 2003-2005

Patricia A. Butenis Career 2006-2007

James Moriarty Career 2007-2011

Barbados Earl Norfleet Phillips Political 2002-2003 wachovia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Norfleet_Phillips

Mary Kramer Political 2003-2006

Mary Ourisman Political 2006-2009 http://www.nndb.com/people/719/000122353/

Belarus George A. Krol Career 2003-2006

Karen B. Stewart Career 2006-2008

Belgium Stephen Brauer Political 2001-2003 swift boat akin http://www.nndb.com/people/054/000120691/

Tom Korologos Political 2003-2007 dla piper bork

Sam Fox Political 2007-2009 $

Belize Russell F. Freeman Political 2001-2005 ND scotus

Robert Johann Dieter Political 2005-2009 coors http://www.nndb.com/people/783/000122417/

Benin Wayne E. Neill Career 2003-2006

Gayleatha B. Brown Career 2006-2009

Bolivia David Greenlee Career 2002-2006

Philip S. Goldberg Career 2006-2008

Bosnia & Herzegovina Clifford G. Bond Career 2001-2004

Douglas L. McElhaney Career 2004-2007

Charles English Career 2007-2010

Botswana Joseph Huggins Career 2002-2005

Katherine Hubay Canavan Career 2005-2008

Stephen Nolan Career 2008-2011

Brazil Donna Hrinak Career 2002-2004

John J. Danilovich Political 2004-2005

Clifford Sobel Political 2005-2009 http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/bushs-man-in-brazil-packs-up/#

Brunei Darussalam Gene B. Christy Career 2002-2005

Emil Skodon Career 2005-2008

William Todd Political 2008-2010

Bulgaria James W. Pardew Career 2002-2005

John R. Beyrle Career 2005-2008

Nancy McEldowney Career 2008-2009

Burkina Faso J. Anthony Holmes Career 2002-2005

Jeanine Jackson Career 2006-2009

Burma No diplomatic relations from 2001-2009

Burundi James H. Yellin Career 2002-2005

Patricia Moller Career 2006-2009

Cambodia Charles Aaron Ray Career 2002-2005

Joseph A. Mussomeli Career 2005-2008

Carol Rodley Career 2008-2012

Cameroon George McDade Staples Career 2001-2004

R. Niels Marquardt Career 2004-2007

Janet Garvey Career 2007-2010

Canada Argeo Paul Cellucci Political 2001-2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cellucci

David Horton Wilkins Political 2005-2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wilkins

Cape Verde Donald C. Johnson Career 2002-2005

Roger D. Pierce Career 2005-2008

Marianne Myles Career 2008-2011

Central African Republic Mattie R. Sharpless Career 2001-2002

Frederick Cook Career 2007-2010

Chad Marc M. Wall Career 2004-2007

Louis Nigro Career 2007-2010

Chile William R. Brownfield Career 2002-2004

Craig A. Kelly Career 2004-2007

Paul Simons Career 2007-2010

China Clark T. Randt, Jr. Political 2001-2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_T._Randt,_Jr.

Colombia William B. Wood Career 2003-2007

William R. Brownfield Career 2007-2010

Congo (DR) Aubrey Hooks Career 2001-2004

Roger A. Meece Career 2004-2007

William Garvelink Career 2007-2010

Congo (Republic of) Robin R. Sanders Career 2002-2005

Robert Weisberg Career 2006-2008

Alan Eastham Career 2008-2010

Costa Rica John J. Danilovich Political 2001-2004 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amb-john-j-danilovich

Roger A. Meece Political 2005-2008

William Garvelink Political 2008-2009

Cote d'Ivoire Arlene Render Career 2001-2004

Aubrey Hooks Career 2004-2007

Wanda Nesbitt Career 2007-2010

Croatia Ralph Frank Career 2003-2006

Robert A. Bradtke Career 2006-2009

Cyprus Michael Klosson Career 2002-2005

Ronald Schlicher Career 2005-2008

Frank Urbancic, Jr. Career 2008-2012

Czech Republic Craig Roberts Stapleton Political 2001-2003

William J. Cabaniss Political 2003-2006

Richard W. Graber Political 2006-2009

Denmark Stuart A. Bernstein Political 2001-2005

James Cain Political 2005-2009

Director General of the Foreign Service Ruth A. Davis Career 2001-2003

W. Robert Pearson Career 2003-2006

George McDade Staples Career 2006-2007

Harry K. Thomas, Jr. Career 2007-2009

Djibouti Marguerita Dianne Ragsdale Career 2003-2006

W. Stuart Symington IV Career 2006-2008

James Swan Career 2008-2011

Dominican Republic Hans H. Hertell Political 2001-2007

P. Robert Fannin Political 2007-2009

Ecuador Kristie Kenney Career 2002-2005

William J. Cabaniss Career 2005-2008

Richard W. Graber Career 2008-2011

Egypt C. David Welch Career 2001-2005

Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. Career 2005-2008

Margaret Scobey Career 2008-2011

El Salvador H. Douglas Barclay Political 2003-2007

Charles L. Glazer Political 2007-2009

Equatorial Guinea George McDade Staples Career 2001-2004

R. Niels Marquardt Career 2004-2006

Donald J. Johnson Career 2006-2009

Eritrea Donald J. McConnell Political 2001-2004

Scott H. DeLisi Career 2004-2007

Ronald McMullen Career 2007-2012

Estonia Joseph M. DeThomas Career 2001-2004

Aldona Wos Political 2004-2006

Stanley Davis Phillips Political 2006-2009

Ethiopia Aurelia Brazeal Career 2002-2005

Donald Yamamoto Career 2006-2009

European Union Rockwell A. Schnabel Political 2001-2005

C. Boyden Gray Political 2006-2007

Kristin Silverberg Political 2008-2009

Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, & Tuvalu David L. Lyon Career 2002-2005

Larry Miles Dinger Career 2005-2008

C. Steven McGann Career 2008-2011

Finland Bonnie McElveen-Hunter Political 2001-2003

Earle I. Mack Political 2004-2005

Marilyn Ware Political 2005-2009

France and Monaco Howard Leach Political 2001-2005

Craig Roberts Stapleton Political 2005-2009

Gabon and São Tomé & Principe Kenneth Price Moorfield Career 2002-2004

R. Barrie Walkley Career 2004-2007

Eunice Reddick Career 2007-2010

Gambia Jackson McDonald Career 2001-2004

Joseph D. Stafford III Career 2004-2007

Barry Wells Career 2007-2010

Georgia Richard Monroe Miles Career 2002-2005

John F. Tefft Career 2005-2009

Germany Daniel R. Coats Political 2001-2005

William Robert Timken, Jr. Political 2005-2009

Ghana Nancy Powell Career 2001-2002

Mary Carlin Yates Career 2002-2005

Pamela Bridgewater Career 2005-2008

Donald Teitelbaum Career 2008-2012

Greece Thomas J. Miller Career 2001-2004

Charles P. Ries Career 2004-2007

Daniel Speckhard Political 2007-2010

Guatemala John Randle Hamilton Career 2002-2005

James M. Derham Career 2005-2008

Stephen McFarland Career 2008-2011

Guinea R. Barrie Walkley Career 2001-2004

Jackson McDonald Career 2004-2007

Philip Carter III Career 2007-2009

Guyana Roland W. Bullen Career 2003-2006

David M. Robinson Career 2006-2008

John Melvin Jones Career 2008

Haiti James B. Foley Career 2003-2005

Janet Sanderson Career 2006-2009

Holy See James Nicholson Political 2001-2005

Francis Rooney Political 2005-2008

Mary Ann Glendon Political 2008-2009

Honduras Larry Leon Palmer Career 2002-2005

Charles A. Ford Career 2005-2008

Hugo Llorens Career 2008-2011

Hungary Nancy Goodman Brinker Political 2001-2003

George H. Walker Political 2003-2006

April H. Foley Political 2006-2009

Iceland James Gadsden Career 2002-2005

Carol van Voorst Career 2006-2009

India Robert D. Blackwill Political 2001-2003

David Campbell Mulford Political 2003-2009

Indonesia Ralph Leo Boyce Career 2001-2004

B. Lynn Pascoe Career 2004-2007

Cameron Hume Career 2007-2010

Iraq John Negroponte Career 2004-2005

Zalmay Khalilzad Political 2005-2007

Ryan Crocker Career 2007-2009

Ireland Richard J. Egan Political 2001-2002

James Casey Kenny Political 2003-2006

Thomas C. Foley Political 2006-2009  citi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_C._Foley

Israel Daniel C. Kurtzer Career 2001-2005

Richard Henry Jones Career 2005-2008

James Cunningham Career 2008-2011

Italy & San Marino Melvin Sembler Political 2001-2005

Ronald Spogli Political 2005-2009

Jamaica Sue McCourt Cobb Political 2001-2005

Brenda LaGrange Johnson Political 2005-2009

Japan Howard Baker Political 2001-2005

John Thomas Schieffer Political 2005-2009

Jordan Edward Gnehm Career 2001-2004

David Hale Career 2005-2008

Robert S. Beecroft Career 2008-2011

Kazakhstan Larry C. Napper Career 2001-2004

John M. Ordway Career 2004-2008

Richard Hoagland Career 2008-2011

Kenya (+ Somalia) William M. Bellamy Career 2003-2006

Michael Ranneberger Career 2006-2011

Kosovo Tina Kaidanow Career 2008-2009

Kuwait Richard Henry Jones Career 2001-2004

Richard LeBaron Career 2004-2007

Deborah Jones Career 2007-2011

Kyrgyz Republic Stephen M. Young Career 2003-2005

Marie Yovanovitch Career 2005-2008

Tatiana Gfoeller Career 2008-2010

Laos Douglas A. Hartwick Career 2001-2004

Patricia Haslach Career 2004-2007

Ravic Huso Career 2007-2010

Latvia Brian E. Carlson Career 2001-2004

Catherine Todd Bailey Political 2004-2007

Charles W. Larson, Jr. Political 2007-2009

Lebanon Vincent M. Battle Career 2001-2004

Jeffrey D. Feltman Career 2004-2008

Michele Sison Career 2008-2010

Lesotho Robert G. Loftis Career 2001-2004

June Carter Perry Career 2004-2007

Robert Nolan Career 2007-2010

Liberia John W. Blaney Career 2002-2005

John W. Blaney Career 2005-2008

Linda Thomas-Greenfield Career 2008-2012

Libya Gene Cretz Career 2007-2012

Lithuania Stephen D. Mull Career 2003-2006

John A. Cloud, Jr. Career 2006-2009

Luxembourg Peter Terpeluk, Jr. Political 2002-2005

Ann L. Wagner Political 2005-2009

Macedonia Lawrence E. Butler Career 2002-2005

Gillian A. Milovanovic Career 2005-2008

Philip T. Reeker Career 2008-2011

Madagascar & Comoros Wanda Nesbitt Career 2001-2004

James D. McGee Career 2004-2007

R. Niels Marquardt Career 2007-2010

Malawi Steven A. Browning Career 2003-2004

Alan Eastham Career 2005-2008

Peter Bodde Career 2008-2011

Malaysia Marie T. Huhtala Career 2001-2004

Christopher L. LaFleur Career 2004-2007

James Keith Career 2007-2010

Mali Vicki Huddleston Career 2002-2005

Terence P. McCulley Career 2005-2008

Gillian Milovanovic Career 2008-2011

Malta Anthony H. Gioia Political 2001-2004

Molly H. Bordonaro Political 2005-2009

Marshall Islands Greta N. Morris Career 2003-2006

Clyde Bishop Career 2006-2009

Mauritania Joseph LaBaron Career 2003-2006

Mark Boulware Career 2007-2010

Mauritius & Seychelles John Price Political 2002-2005

Cesar B. Cabrera Political 2006-2009

Mexico Antonio O. Garza, Jr. Political 2002-2009

Micronesia Larry M. Dinger Career 2001-2004

Suzanne Hale Career 2004-2007

Miriam Hughes Career 2007-2009

Moldova Pamela H. Smith Career 2001-2003

Heather M. Hodges Career 2003-2006

Michael D. Kirby Career 2006-2008

Asif Chaudhry Career 2008-2011

Mongolia Pamela Slutz Career 2003-2006

Mark Minton Career 2006-2009

Montenegro Roderick Moore Career 2007-2010

Morocco Margaret Tutwiler Political 2001-2003

Thomas Riley Political 2003-2009

Mozambique Helen Meagher La Lime Career 2003-2006

Namibia Kevin J. McGuire Career 2001-2004

Joyce Barr Career 2004-2007

Gail Mathieu Career 2007-2010

NATO R. Nicholas Burns Career 2001-2005

Victoria Nuland Political 2005-2008

Kurt Volker Career 2008-2009

Nepal Michael E. Malinowski Career 2001-2004

James Moriarty Career 2004-2007

Nancy Powell Career 2007-2009

Netherlands Clifford Sobel Political 2001-2005

Ronald Arnall Political 2006-2008

James Culbertson Political 2008-2009

New Zealand & Samoa Charles J. Swindells Political 2001-2005

William McCormick Political 2005-2008

Nicaragua Barbara C. Moore Career 2002-2005

Paul A. Trivelli Career 2005-2008

Robert Callahan Career 2008-2011

Niger Gail Mathieu Career 2002-2005

Bernadette Allen Career 2006-2010

Nigeria John Campbell Career 2004-2007

Robin R. Sanders Career 2007-2010

Norway John D. Ong Political 2002-2005

Benson K. Whitney Political 2005-2009

OAS Roger F. Noriega Political 2001-2003

John F. Maisto Career 2003-2006

Hector E. Morales Political 2007-2009

OECD Jeanne L. Phillips Political 2001-2003

Constance Morella Political 2003-2005

Christopher Egan Political 2007-2009

Oman Richard L. Baltimore Career 2002-2006

Gary A. Grappo Career 2006-2009

OSCE Stephan M. Minikes Political 2001-2005

Julie Finley Political 2005-2009

Pakistan Wendy Chamberlin Career 2001

Nancy Powell Career 2002-2004

Ryan Crocker Career 2004-2007

Anne W. Patterson Career 2007-2010

Panama Linda Ellen Watt Career 2002-2005

William Alan Eaton Career 2005-2008

Barbara Stephenson Career 2008-2010

Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, & Vanuatu Robert W. Fitts Career 2003-2006

Leslie Rowe Career 2006-2009

Paraguay John F. Keane Career 2002-2005

James Caldwell Cason Career 2005-2008

Liliana Ayalde Career 2008-2011

Peru John R. Dawson Career 2002-2003

James C. Struble Career 2003-2007

P. Michael McKinley Career 2007-2010

Philippines & Palau Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. Career 2002-2005

Kristie Kenney Career 2006-2009

Poland Victor Ashe Political 2004-2009

Portugal John N. Palmer Political 2001-2004

Alfred Hoffman, Jr. Political 2005-2007

Thomas F. Stephenson Political 2007-2009

Qatar Maureen Quinn Career 2001-2004

Charles G. Untermeyer Political 2004-2007

Joseph LeBaron Career 2007-2011

Romania Michael E. Guest Career 2001-2004

Jack Dyer Crouch II Political 2004-2005

Nicholas F. Taubman Political 2005-2008

Russia Alexander Vershbow Career 2001-2005

William J. Burns Career 2005-2008

Rwanda Margaret K. McMillion Career 2001-2004

Michael R. Arietti Career 2005-2008

W. Stuart Symington IV Career 2008-2011

Saudi Arabia Robert W. Jordan Political 2001-2003

James C. Oberwetter Political 2003-2007

Ford M. Fraker Political 2007-2009

Senegal & Guinea Bissau Richard Allan Roth Career 2002-2005

Janice Jacobs Career 2006-2007

Marcia Bernicat Career 2007-2011

Serbia William D. Montgomery Career 2001-2004

Michael C. Polt Career 2004-2007

Cameron Munter Career 2007-2009

Sierra Leone Peter Chaveas Career 2001-2004

Thomas Neil Hull III Career 2004-2007

June Carter Perry Career 2007-2010

Singapore Franklin L. Lavin Political 2001-2005

Patricia L. Herbold Political 2005-2009

Slovakia Ronald Weiser Political 2001-2004

Rodolphe M. Vallee Political 2005-2007

Vincent Obsitnik Political 2007-2009

Slovenia Johnny Young Career 2001-2004

Thomas B. Robertson Career 2004-2007

Yousif Boutros Ghafari Political 2008-2009

South Africa Cameron Hume Career 2001-2004

Jendayi E. Frazer Political 2004-2005

Eric M. Bost Political 2006-2009

South Korea Thomas C. Hubbard Career 2001-2004

Christopher Hill Career 2004-2005

Alexander Vershbow Career 2005-2008

Kathleen Stephens Career 2008-2011

Spain & Andorra George L. Argyros, Sr. Political 2001-2004

Eduardo Aguirre Political 2005-2009

Sri Lanka & Maldives Jeffrey Lunstead Career 2003-2006

Robert O. Blake, Jr. Career 2006-2009

Sudan No ambassadors from 2001-2009

Suriname Marsha E. Barnes Career 2003-2006

Lisa Bobbie Schreiber Hughes Career 2006-2009

Swaziland James D. McGee Career 2002-2004

Lewis W. Lucke Career 2004-2005

Maurice S. Parker Career 2007-2009

Sweden Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. Political 2001-2004

Miles T. Bivins Political 2004-2006

Michael Wood Political 2006-2009

Switzerland & Liechtenstein Mercer Reynolds Political 2001-2003

Pamela P. Willeford Political 2003-2006

Peter R. Coneway Political 2006-2008

Syria Theodore Kattouf Career 2001-2003

Margaret Scobey Career 2003-2005

Tajikistan Franklin Pierce Huddle, Jr. Career 2001-2003

Richard Hoagland Career 2003-2006

Tracy Jacobson Career 2006-2009

Tanzania Robert V. Royall Political 2001-2003

Michael Retzer Political 2005-2007

Mark Green Political 2007-2009

Thailand Darryl N. Johnson Career 2001-2004

Ralph Leo Boyce Career 2004-2007

Eric G. John Career 2007-2010

Timor-Leste Grover Joseph Rees III Political 2002-2006

Hans Klemm Career 2007-2010

Togo Gregory W. Engle Career 2003-2005

David B. Dunn Career 2005-2008

Patricia McMahon Hawkins Career 2008-2011

Trinidad & Tobago Roy L. Austin Political 2001-2009

Tunisia William J. Hudson Career 2003-2006

Robert F. Godec Career 2006-2009

Turkey Eric S. Edelman Career 2003-2005

Ross Wilson Career 2005-2008

James Franklin Jeffrey Career 2008-2010

Turkmenistan Laura Kennedy Career 2001-2003

Tracy Jacobson Career 2003-2007

Uganda Jimmy Kolker Career 2002-2005

Steven A. Browning Career 2005-2009

Ukraine John E. Herbst Career 2003-2006

William B. Taylor, Jr. Career 2006-2009

United Arab Emirates Marcelle Wahba Career 2001-2004

Michele Sison Career 2004-2008

Richard Olson Career 2008-2011

United Kingdom William S. Farish Political 2001-2004

Robert H. Tuttle Political 2005-2009

United Nations John Negroponte Career 2001-2004

John C. Danforth Political 2004-2005

John R. Bolton Political 2005-2006

Zalmay Khalilzad Political 2007-2009

UN/Geneva Kevin E. Moley Political 2001-2006

Warren W. Tichenor Political 2006-2009

UN/Vienna Kenneth C. Brill Career 2001-2004

Gregory L. Schulte Political 2005-2009

UNESCO Louise Oliver Political 2004-2009

Uruguay Martin J. Silverstein Political 2001-2005

Frank Baxter Political 2006-2009

Uzbekistan Jon Robert Purnell Career 2003-2007

Richard B. Norland Career 2007-2010

Venezuela Charles S. Shapiro Career 2002-2004

William R. Brownfield Career 2004-2007

Patrick Duddy Career 2007-2010

Vietnam Raymond Burghardt Career 2001-2004

Michael W. Marine Career 2004-2007

Michael Michalak Career 2007-2010

Yemen Edmund James Hull Career 2001-2004

Thomas Charles Krajeski Career 2004-2007

Stephen A. Seche Career 2007-2010

Zambia Martin George Brennan Career 2002-2005

Carmen M. Martinez Career 2005-2008

Donald Booth Career 2008-2010

Zimbabwe Joseph Gerard Sullivan Career 2001-2004

Christopher William Dell Career 2004-2007

James D. McGee Career 2007-2009

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Council of American Ambassadors

ORGANIZATION

Nonprofit, non-partisan organization. Founded in 1983.

Official Website:

http://www.americanambassadors.org/

Founding Date:

1983

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