Deputy Chief of Mission Elizabeth Richard

Elizabeth Richard is the Deputy Chief of Mission in Sanaa, Yemen, beginning in September 2010.  She is a career foreign service officer, with 24 years of service. For the last two years, Ms Richard has been  the Border Coordinator in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she maintained oversight of all USG programs along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan to ensure that U.S. efforts were synchronized to ensure the maximum effect for USG policies in the region.  She also maintained close coordination with the US Embassy in Kabul and with ISAF on support for the supply lines into Afghanistan, the IED problem, and other cross-border issues. Her previous assignments included a year as director of counternarcotics and civilian police training programs in Afghanistan, two years as deputy to the special Ambassador for War Crimes issues, where she worked on Guantanamo bay issues and on US support for international war crimes tribunals, and a year as special assistant to the undersecretary for political affairs, where her responsibilities included non-proliferation and political-military issues.    Her other overseas assignments included rome, Italy, where she worked for one year in the Italian Foreign Ministry and then joined the Embassy as the Balkans officer, and Bangkok, Thailand, where she was special assistant to the Ambassador.

She is a graduate of the National War College in Washington DC, and of the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy.  She has a law degree from Southern Methodist University, and before joining the Foreign Service practiced admiralty law in Texas.