EMBASSY EVENTS 2009

Christopher R. Hill Confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq

22 April 2009

Christopher R. Hill

On Tuesday, April 21, the U.S. Senate confirmed diplomat Christopher R. Hill as U.S. ambassador to Iraq by a majority vote 73-23.  Hill, a career Foreign Service officer, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland from 2000 to 2004, will now be in charge of the largest U.S. embassy in the world. He will take over the Baghdad post at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama is attempting to wind down the 6-year-old war in Iraq. On March 11, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Christopher R. Hill as Ambassador to Iraq.  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved his nomination in a business meeting on March 31. At present, Ambassador Hill is Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.  Please click here to read the full CNN report on the Senate confirmation.

Christopher R. Hill was born in 1952. Ambassador Hill is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service whose most recent assignment was as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea.  On February 14, 2005, he was named as the Head of the U.S. delegation to the Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue.  Previously he has served as U.S. Ambassador to Poland (2000-2004), Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (1996-1999) and Special Envoy to Kosovo (1998-1999).  He also served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Southeast European Affairs in the National Security Council.
Earlier in his Foreign Service career, Ambassador Hill served tours in Belgrade, Warsaw, Seoul, and Tirana, and on the Department of State's Policy Planning staff and in the Department’s Operation Center.  While on a fellowship with the American Political Science Association he served as a staff member for Congressman Stephen Solarz working on Eastern European issues.  He also served as the Department of State's Senior Country Officer for Poland.  Ambassador Hill received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for his contributions as a member of the U.S. negotiating team in the Bosnia peace settlement, and was a recipient of the Robert S. Frasure Award for Peace Negotiations for his work on the Kosovo crisis.  Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Hill served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon.
Ambassador Hill graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine with a B.A. in Economics.  He received a Master's degree from the Naval War College in 1994.  He speaks Polish, Serbo-Croatian, and Macedonian.