Biography of Ronald L. SchlicherDeputy Assistant Secretary Deputy Assistant Secretary Ronald Schlicher is currently serving as Coordinator for Iraq in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. As such, he is the State Department official in charge of the several offices in the Near East Bureau, which deal with Iraqi issues, and is the principal point of contact through which all United States Government agencies deal with Iraq. Schlicher is a Minister-Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service. He entered the Foreign Service in January 1982. He was Vice-Consul in Dhahran from September 1982 to March 1984. From 1984-1986, he served as Consul in Damascus, Syria. He then returned to the Department as Staff Assistant in NEA to Assistant Secretary Richard Murphy. From 1987-1989, he served as Deputy Principal Officer in Alexandria, Egypt. He then transferred to the Embassy in Cairo, where he served as First Secretary from 1989-1991, specializing in internal Egyptian politics and Islamic movements. In 1991-1992, he was Chief Civilian Observer in the MFO, the organization that monitors the security provisions of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. Returning to the Department, he served from 1992-1994 as a Deputy Director for Regional Affairs in the Office of the Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism (S/CT). From 1994-1997, Schlicher served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Beirut, Lebanon. From 1997-2000, Schlicher was the Director of the Office of Egyptian and North African Affairs in NEA. From 2000-2002, he served as Chief of Mission and Consul-General in Jerusalem. During the 2003 war with Iraq, Schlicher was Director of the Iraq Task Force. He then served for six months in Iraq with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), first as Regional Coordinator for the North and then as Director of the Office of Provincial Outreach. Schlicher is fluent in Arabic (several dialects) and French. Over his career, he was received the Distinguished Honor Award, three Superior Honor Awards, two Meritorious Honor Awards, a National Humint Collector Award, and, most recently, the Christian A. Herter Award. He has also been awarded Senior and Presidential Performance Pay on several occasions. [End] Released on November 4, 2004 |