James H. Thessin was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Paraguay by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on September 8, 2011.
James Thessin is a career member of the Senior Executive Service and has served as a Deputy Legal Adviser at the Department of State since 1990. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Thessin served at the Department of State as the Assistant Legal Adviser for Management, the Assistant Legal Adviser for Human Rights and Refugee Affairs, and an Attorney-Advisor for Political Military Affairs. Before joining the Department in 1982, Mr. Thessin served as an attorney for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission , the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , and Federal Trade Commission .
Ambassador Thessin received a bachelor’s degree from the Catholic University of Washington D.C. and a law degree from the Harvard University School of Law.
