Jeffrey D. Feltman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jeffrey D. Feltman, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon

Ambassador Feltman with U.S. Marine Brigadier General Carl Jensen during the evacuation of Beirut, July 2006

Jeffrey Feltman was the United States Ambassador to Lebanon (As of April 2008 Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Near Eastern Affairs, in Washington. U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Michele J. Sison is presently chief of the Beirut mission.) He was sworn into the office on July 22, 2004, and took up his duties there on August 20, 2004.

Before becoming Ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman volunteered to serve at the Coalition Provisional Authority office in Irbil, Iraq, from January to April 2004. Prior to his work in Iraq, his most recent assignment was at the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, where he served first as Deputy (August 2001-November 2002) and then as Acting Principal Officer (November 2002 to December 2003).

He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1986, serving his first tour as consular officer in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He has spent much of his career dealing with Eastern Europe and the Near East. He served in Embassy Tel Aviv as Ambassador Martin Indyk's Special Assistant on Peace Process issues (2000-2001). Before that, from 1998-2000, Feltman served as Chief of the Political and Economic Section at the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia. He served in the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv from 1995 to 1998, covering economic issues in the Gaza Strip.

Feltman studied Arabic at the University of Jordan in Amman from 1994 to 1995. From 1991 to 1993, Feltman served in the office of the Deputy Secretary of State, Lawrence Eagleburger, as a Special Assistant concentrating on the coordination of U.S. assistance to Eastern and Central Europe. He served as an economic officer at the U.S. Embassy in Hungary from 1988 to 1991.

Ambassador Feltman was born in Greenville, Ohio. He speaks French, Arabic, and Hungarian. He received his undergraduate degree in history and fine arts from Ball State University in Indiana in 1981 and his Master's degree in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1983.

His lengthy reporting cables are widely read in Washington, enjoyed by senior policy officials and analysts for their narrative qualities and insight. Middle East expert Joshua Landis reported in March 2007 that "Feltman has a most unusual arrangement with Secretary Rice; he has a weekly video conference with the Secretary - access of the like only the Ambassador to Iraq can boast."

[edit] Nasrallah Label

In a speech following the Israeli failed invasion of Lebanon in 2006, the "Secretary-General" of Hizbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, dubbed Fouad Siniora's government in Lebanon as Feltman's Government. Nasrallah's label stressed what Hizbullah sees as Feltman's deep influence on the Lebanese government's decisions. The title of "Feltman's Government" has since been widely used among several opposition parties in Lebanon whenever referring to Siniora's government.