Deputy Chief of Mission
Deputy Chief of Mission Louis Mazel
Louis Mazel, Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Singapore, is a career Foreign Service Officer who joined the State Department in 1984. Prior to his posting in Singapore, Mr. Mazel served as Director of the Office of African Regional and Security Affairs in Washington from 2007-2010. From 2005-2007 he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia, serving during the country’s recovery from 15 years of civil conflict.
Mr. Mazel has served most of his career in the field with postings as Public Affairs Officer and Deputy Principal Officer in Cape Town, South Africa; Political/Economic Chief in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Political Officer in Windhoek, Namibia; Regional Refugee Coordinator in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Economic/Commercial/Consular Officer in Lome, Togo; Political/Economic/Public Affairs Officer in Fort-de-France, Martinique, and as General Services Officer in Bamako, Mali. He also served in Washington as a Southeast Asia Program Officer in the Bureau of Refugee Affairs.
Mr. Mazel has spoken widely in the U.S. and Africa on U.S. foreign policy priorities and security interests in Africa, on U.S. politics and elections, and on democratization and elections in Africa. In Singapore Mr. Mazel has spoken to numerous youth groups and organizations on multiculturalism in America, U.S.-Singapore relations, and the impact of Somali piracy on international shipping. In the lead-up to the 2005 national elections in Liberia, Mr. Mazel spoke to numerous youth and civil society audiences in that country on the need to conduct free, fair, transparent, and peaceful elections after almost 15 years of civil strife.
He is the recipient of the State Department’s first-ever Worldwide Democracy and Human Rights Award for his work on curbing sexual and domestic violence in Namibia and is the recipient of numerous other Department Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards.
Mr. Mazel is an avid follower of Olympic sports and has attended six Olympic Games and six Southeast Asian Games. He served as a color commentator on Namibia television during the 1996 Atlanta Games and for the World Athletics Championships. An avid traveler, Mr. Mazel has visited over 105 countries. He also enjoys reading, sampling ethnic foods, baseball, camping, volleyball, and meeting people from different cultures and religions.
A native New Yorker, Mr. Mazel is married to DeeDee Smith, a former math teacher in international schools who worked in Consular Affairs for 11 years. She also enjoys competitive sports and has run numerous races in Singapore, Malaysia, Africa, and the U.S. DeeDee has also participated in the Borneo Triathlon twice and was the veteran’s division half-marathon champion of Swaziland.