John Bass | |
---|---|
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs | |
Acting | |
Assumed office March 22, 2024 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Victoria Nuland |
16th Under Secretary of State for Management | |
Assumed office December 29,2021 | |
President | Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Brian Bulatao |
22nd United States Ambassador to Afghanistan | |
In office December 12,2017 –January 6,2020 | |
President | Donald Trump |
Preceded by | P. Michael McKinley |
Succeeded by | Karen B. Decker (chargéd'affaires) |
United States Ambassador to Turkey | |
In office October 20,2014 –October 15,2017 | |
President | Barack Obama Donald Trump |
Deputy | Philip Kosnett |
Preceded by | Francis J. Ricciardone Jr. |
Succeeded by | David M. Satterfield |
24th Executive Secretary of the Department of State | |
In office October 8,2012 –July 18,2014 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Stephen Mull |
Succeeded by | Joseph Macmanus |
United States Ambassador to Georgia | |
In office October 16,2009 –July 17,2012 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | John F. Tefft |
Succeeded by | Richard Norland |
Personal details | |
Born | 1964 (age 59–60) New York,U.S. |
Spouse | Holly Holzer |
Education | Syracuse University (BA) |
John Rodney Bass II [1] (born 1964) is an American diplomat,who has served as the under secretary of state for management since December 2021. He was the United States ambassador to Afghanistan from 2017 to 2020,the United States ambassador to Turkey from 2014 to 2017 and the United States ambassador to Georgia from 2009 to 2012. [2] [3]
Bass is from upstate New York. [2] He graduated from Syracuse University in 1986 and was a newspaper editor and political campaign consultant before joining the Foreign Service in 1988. Shortly after,he was posted to Belgium,the Netherlands,and Chad. [4]
In 1998,he worked for deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott,first as a special assistant for Europe and Eurasia including as part of the peace negotiations in the Kosovo War. He was later named as Talbott's chief of staff in 2000,coordinating policy on arms reduction with Russia. [4]
In 2005,Bass was named director of the State Department Operations Center. He was sent to Iraq in 2008 as the leader of a provincial reconstruction team. [4] He speaks Italian and French. [2]
In October 2012,he was appointed Executive Secretary of the United States Department of State and served as the liaison between the State Department's many bureaus and the leadership offices of the Secretary,the Deputy Secretaries,and the Director of Policy Planning.
In October 2017,after the U.S. decided to suspend non-immigrant visa services within Turkey,Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the Turkish government would no longer recognize Bass's authority as a U.S. ambassador. The cancellation of visitor visas came after a Turkish court ordered the arrest of an employee of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul. [5] [6]
After the suspension of visa services in Turkey,Bass published a statement on YouTube. [7]
President Donald Trump named him as his choice to become the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan on July 20,2017. [8] On September 28,2017,his nomination was confirmed by the Senate. [9] Bass left the position on January 6,2020. [10]
On July 21,2021,President Joe Biden nominated him to serve as Under Secretary of State for Management. [11] On December 18,2021,he was confirmed by the Senate. [12]
Bass was appointed as acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in March 2024,following the resignation of Victoria Nuland. [13]
David Michael Satterfield is an American diplomat and ambassador,who has served extensively in the Middle East,including the Persian Gulf area,Lebanon,and Iraq. He later served as a senior advisor on Iraq for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and was director general of the Multinational Force and Observers,the peacekeeping force for the Sinai Peninsula from June 2009 until August 2017. He was chargéd'affaires to Egypt from August 2013 to January 2014 and was subsequently Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Libya. From September 2017 to June 2019 he served as the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs,and was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Turkey on June 27,2019.
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Victoria Jane Nuland is an American diplomat who served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2021 to 2024. A former member of the US Foreign Service,she served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs from 2013 to 2017 and the 18th U.S. ambassador to NATO from 2005 to 2008. Between July 2023 and February 2024,Nuland served as acting deputy secretary of state following the retirement of Wendy Sherman.
Ross L. Wilson is an American diplomat who was the chargéd'affaires of the United States to Afghanistan from 2020 to 2021. He was the U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2005 to 2008 and the U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2000 to 2003,with the personal rank of minister-counselor. He also teaches part-time at Carleton College. Wilson also previously served as director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council.
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Peter Michael McKinley is an American diplomat. A career Foreign Service Officer,McKinley served as U.S. Ambassador to Peru (2007–2010),Colombia (2010–2013),Afghanistan (2015–2016),and Brazil (2017–2018),and then as Senior Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State (2018–2019).
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The Attack on protestors at the Turkish embassy in Washington,D.C. broke out on May 16,2017,between Turkey's Police Counter Attack Team and a crowd of protesters,some of whom carried flags of a Kurdish political party. According to Turkey,Turkish bodyguards were acting in self-defense and the protesters were tied to a terrorist group. However,according to US officials the Turkish bodyguards attacked the protesters unprovoked. A protest leader denied that any participants had ties to any terrorist group. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in Washington that day to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and observed the clashes from a distance.
Philip Scott Kosnett is an American diplomat. He was sworn in as the fifth U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo on November 27,2018. Kosnett's previous assignment was as Chargéd'Affaires ad interim at the United States Embassy in Ankara,Turkey. Kosnett was nominated in July 2018 by U.S. president Trump to be the next ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo. The Senate confirmed him in this position in September 2018. Kosnett arrived in Kosovo in December 2018 and departed post in September 2021.
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