Deputy Chief of Mission
Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Mission Nigeria.
James P. McAnulty
Deputy Chief of Mission
U.S. Embassy, Abuja, Nigeria
James P. McAnulty arrived at the U.S. Mission to Nigeria in August 2009. He served as Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy during his first year in Nigeria and later served as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim between the departure of the former U.S. Ambassador and the arrival of current U.S. Ambassador Terence P. McCulley. Mr. McAnulty officially became Deputy Chief of Mission in January 2011.
Mr. McAnulty entered the U.S. Foreign Service in October 1983. He has served at U.S. Embassies in Caracas, Venezuela; Mexico City, Mexico (two separate assignments); Nassau, The Bahamas; San Jose, Costa Rica; Nairobi, Kenya; Brussels, Belgium (at the U.S. Mission to the European Union); and Abuja, Nigeria. He also worked at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on issues involving bilateral relations with Mexico in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs (WHA) and involving arms control issues in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM).
Mr. McAnulty received the State Department’s Warren Christopher Award for Outstanding Performance in Global Affairs in 2002 for his work on behalf of refugees as the Regional Refugee Coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. He also earned three Senior Foreign Service Performance Pay Awards for his achievements as the Narcotics Affairs Section Director in Mexico City and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Abuja. Mr. McAnulty, who holds the rank of Minister-Counselor, has also received four Superior Honor Wards, including most recently in May 2012, and a Meritorious Honor Award.
Before entering the U.S. Foreign Service, Mr. McAnulty earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a regular commission at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1977. He served as a U.S. Air Force Officer at assignments in San Angelo, Texas; Berlin, Germany; the Republic of Korea; and Arlington, Virginia. Mr. McAnulty and his wife Anna have five children.