The White House has rolled out its first dozen ambassadors late last night; the names are not even posted in its website yet as of this writing. The following names via The Cable, were posted at 10:21 pm last night.
I have added the names of the prior occupants to these positions. In the last Bush term, eight from this list were non career political appointees, and four were Foreign Service Officers (career diplomats). In this list, nine eight of Obama’s nominees are also non-career political appointees, while the remaining three four are Foreign Service Officers: Shannon, Dell and Butenis, plus Connan who is with the Foreign Commercial Service. Note that Christopher Dell was most recently the #2 official at US Embassy Kabul and Patricia Butenis is currently the #2 in US Embassy Baghdad. Will have some additional posts later.
African Union (AU) (Addis Ababa)
U.S. Representative to the African Union with the Rank of Ambassador
Michael A. Battle, Sr., vice John Simon, non-career appointee
Ambassador to Argentina (Buenos Aires)
Vilma S. Martinez vice Earl Anthony Wayne, career diplomat
Ambassador to the Federative Republic of Brazil (Brasilia)
Thomas A. Shannon, FSO, vice Clifford M. Sobel, non-career appointee
Ambassador to Denmark (Copenhagen)
Laurie S. Fulton vice James P. Cain, non-career appointee
Ambassador to France (Paris)
Charles H. Rivkin vice Craig Roberts Stapleton, non career appointee
Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland (London)
Louis B. Susman vice Robert Holmes Tuttle, non career appointee
Ambassador to the Holy See (Rome)
Miguel H. Díaz vice Mary Ann Glendon, non career appointee
Ambassador to the Republic of Iceland (Reykjavik)
Robert S. Connan, FCS, vice Carol Van Voorst, career diplomat
Ambassador to India (New Delhi)
Timothy J. Roemer vice David C. Mulford, non career appointee
Ambassador to Japan (Tokyo)
John V. Roos vice J. Thomas Schieffer, non career appointee
Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo (Pristina)
Christopher William Dell, FSO, vice Tina S. Kaidanow, career diplomat
Ambassador to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives (Colombo)
Patricia A. Butenis, FSO, vice Robert O. Blake, career diplomat
Updated @6:07 pm: Added notation on Connan as career officer in the US Foreign Commercial Service (USFCS).
