New U.S. Ambassador Arrives in Poland

8 November 2012

Ambassador to Poland Stephen Mull

The new U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Stephen Mull, arrived in Poland November 3 and presented his credentials to President Bronisław Komorowski on Thursday, November 8.

Mr. Mull was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Poland on September 22, 2012.  He served as Executive Secretary of the State Department from June 21, 2010 until October 5, 2012. Before then, he had served since August 2008 as Senior Advisor to Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, in which capacity he coordinated U.S. diplomatic efforts on Iran, managed the State Department’s crisis response during the Russian-Georgian war of August 2008, and led negotiations on a range of U.S. national security issues, including the agreement permitting the flight of U.S. military resupply flights to Afghanistan through Russian airspace. At the beginning of the Obama administration, he led and exercised the authorities of the Office of the Under Secretary for International Security Affairs and Arms Control pending the arrival of a permanent Under Secretary.

Ambassador Mull served as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs from January 2007 through August 2008. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania 2003-2006, and was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia 2000-2003.

He previously served as a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw during the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s.  His other overseas assignments have been in South Africa and the Bahamas. In Washington, he has served as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department, Director of the Office of Southern European Affairs and Deputy Director of the Operations Center.

Ambassador Mull is the recipient of two Presidential Meritorious Service Awards, the Baker-Wilkins Award for Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission, the Director General’s Award for Reporting, two Superior Honor Awards, two Distinguished Honor Awards, and more than ten Senior Foreign Service performance awards. He joined the Foreign Service in March 1982, and holds the rank of Career Minister.

He and his wife, Cheryl M. Stephan, have a 17-year-old son, Ryan.