—By Domani Spero
On May 23, President Obama announced his intent to nominate James F. Entwistle as the next Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The WH released the following brief bio:
Ambassador James F. Entwistle, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, is the U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From 2007 to 2010, he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. His previous roles overseas include Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 2003 to 2006, Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 1999 to 2003, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Bangui, Central African Republic from 1994 to 1995. His roles in Washington include Management Analyst in the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs from 1997 to 1999 and Desk Officer for Zimbabwe and Botswana in the Department of State’s Office of Southern African Affairs in 1996.
Ambassador Entwistle received a B.A. from Davidson College in North Carolina.
Ambassador Entwistle was Ambassador Eric G. John‘s DCM in Bangkok when the OIG inspected the mission in 2010. Below is the an excerpt on the DCM:
The heads of agencies have access to the Ambassador whenever they need to discuss emergent issues, but they view the DCM as being in charge of day-to-day operations. They appreciate the DCM’s operational effectiveness, strong communica tion skills, and knowledge of the wide array of U.S.-Thai cooperative operations the embassy supports.
|snip|
The OIG team noted that the rating officer for the majority of ELOs was several months late in preparing one evaluation and tardy in completing several others. The management counselor and the DCM were unaware of this situation for several months, and the EER review panel did not take note. The rating officer in question was also delinquent in getting ratings to employees in time for them to conduct the 10-day review, as required by 3 FAH-1 H-2819.1-1 b.
|snip|
The OIG team also identified a weakness in the consular section and confirmed that neither the visa chief nor the DCM had conducted the requisite adjudication reviews of nonimmigrant visa issuances and refusals.
If confirmed, Ambassador Entwistle would succeed career diplomat, Terence McCulley who was appointed US Ambassador to Abuja in 2010. This also means that the Nigerian scammers would need to update their 419 tricks. See US Mission Nigeria: Yo! The scammers are current with the news, now uses the name of new US Ambassador to Abuja, Terence P. McCulley for bait.
(z_z)
Related items:
President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts | May 23, 2013