Tag Archives: Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Senate Confirmations: Bitter, Kim, Young, Symington, Donovan

September 29, 2016 By in Ambassadors, Confirmations, Foreign Service, FSOs, Nominations, Obama, Realities of the FS, Senators, SFRC, Staffing the FS, State Department, Top Ranks, U.S. Missions Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted: 1:38 am ET
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The U.S. Senate confirmed the following ambassador nominations on Wednesday, September 28. Five nominations included in SFRC’s business meeting on September 27 did not make it to the full Senate vote (see bottom list).  About 17 other ambassador nominations and FS lists are currently pending in committee and do not have scheduled hearings as of this writing.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Executive Calendar #728
Rena Bitter – to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Executive Calendar #729
Sung Y. Kim – to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of the Philippines

Executive Calendar #730
Andrew Robert Young – to be Ambassador of the United States of America to Burkina Faso

Executive Calendar #731
W. Stuart Symington – to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Executive Calendar #732
Joseph R. Donovan Jr. – to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Indonesia

 

UNITED NATIONS

Executive Calendar #733
Christopher Coons – to be Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-first Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Executive Calendar #734
Ronald H. Johnson – to be Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-first Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

 

Waiting for full Senate vote:

The following nomination and FS lists were in the agenda of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but appear not to make it through the full Senate vote. Note that the hyperlinked lists are those posted in the Senate’s Executive Calendar.

Ms. Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, of Connecticut, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Malaysia

Jorge A. Abudei, et al., dated September 6, 2016 (PN 1704), as amended — (PN1704-2)

John Robert Adams, et al., dated September 6, 2016 (PN 1705) – (PN1705)

Jennisa Paredes, et al., dated July 13, 2016 (PN 1643), as amended — (PN1643-2)

Diana Isabel Acosta, et al., dated July 13, 2016 (PN 1642), as amended — (PN1642-2)

 

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Ambassador Nomination: Rena Bitter — From HCMC to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

May 20, 2016 By in FSOs, Nominations, Obama, Officially In Tags: , , ,

Posted: 12:02 am ET
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On May 19, President Obama announced Rena Bitter as his nominee for Ambassador to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.  The WH released the following brief bio:

Rena Bitter, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, is Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a position she has held since 2013.  Previously, Ms. Bitter served in the Department of State’s Operations Center as Director from 2010 to 2012 and Deputy Director from 2009 to 2010.  Ms. Bitter was Consular Section Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan from 2006 to 2009, and Chief of the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit in the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in London, United Kingdom from 2003 to 2005.  She was a Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellow in London from 2002 to 2003.  Before that, Ms. Bitter served as a Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary of State from 2001 to 2002 and on the Department’s Executive Secretariat Staff from 2000 to 2001.  Since joining the Foreign Service in 1994, Ms. Bitter has also served at posts in Colombia and Mexico.

Ms. Bitter received a B.S. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

Via FB

CG Rena Bitter with Ambassador Ted Osius | Via FB

If confirmed, Ms. Bitter would succeed career diplomat, Dan Clune, who was appointed chief of mission to the US Embassy in Vientiane in September 2013.  The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is one of the 42 countries in the world where we haven’t had a political appointee. Ever.

As of this writing. the Certificates of Competency required under the Foreign Service Act of 1980 for submission to the SFRC and made available online by State/HR for every nominee since 2014 have yet to include the President’s nominees of May 18.  Once the certificates are available, they will be posted here: http://www.state.gov/m/dghr/coc/index.htm.

 

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