James B. Cunningham

James B. Cunningham
United States Ambassador to Afghanistan
In office
August 12, 2012  2014
President Barack Obama
Deputy Tina Kaidanow
Preceded by Ryan Crocker
Succeeded by Michael McKinley
United States Ambassador to Israel
In office
June 30, 2008  June 2011
President George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Preceded by Richard Henry Jones
Succeeded by Daniel B. Shapiro
Personal details
Born 1952 (age 6364)
Spouse(s) Leslie Genier[1]
Profession Diplomat

James Blair Cunningham (born 1952) is an American diplomat and the former United States Ambassador to Afghanistan.[2] Cunningham has served in various diplomat positions since graduating from Syracuse University in 1974. Positions that he has previously held include Chief of Staff to NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner (1989-1990), Deputy Advisor for Political Affairs at the United States Mission to the United Nations (1990-1992), Director of the State Department's Office of European Security and Political Affairs (1993-1995), Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the United States in Rome (1996-2001), Acting United States Ambassador to the United Nations (2001), Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macau (2005-2008) and the United States Ambassador to Israel (2008-2011).

Personal life and career

Cunningham was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University in 1974, with degrees in Political Science and Psychology.

He has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the United States in Rome before becoming an ambassador to the United Nations. He has spent most of his career working on European political and security issues, and in multilateral diplomacy.

He served from 1989 to 1990 as Chief of Staff to NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner. His responsibilities included advising the Secretary General on the entire range of NATO issues in the context of the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union.

Cunningham became Deputy Advisor for Political Affairs at the United States Mission to the United Nations in August 1990, just after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He returned to Washington, D.C., as Deputy Director of the State Department's Office of European Security and Political Affairs in 1992, becoming Director in 1993. As Director, he was involved in many aspects of U.S. policy toward Europe, including NATO, arms control and disarmament, and Bosnia. After a year of senior officer development training, he took up his duties in Rome in August 1996.

As Consul General, (from 2005–2008) Cunningham was responsible for Hong Kong and Macau, both special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China. He is known in Chinese as 郭明瀚 Guō Mínghàn.

He is married to Leslie Genier of Mineville, New York. The couple has two daughters, Emma and Abigail.[1]

Awards and honors

References

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Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Ryan Crocker
United States Ambassador to Afghanistan
August 12, 2012 – 2014
Succeeded by
Michael McKinley
Preceded by
Richard Henry Jones
United States Ambassador to Israel
June 30, 2008 – June 2011
Succeeded by
Daniel B. Shapiro
Preceded by
James R. Keith
Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macau
August 4, 2005 – July 2008
Succeeded by
Joseph R. Donovan, Jr.
Preceded by
Richard Holbrooke
United States Ambassador to the United Nations (acting)
January 20, 2001 – September 15, 2001
Succeeded by
John Negroponte
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