BRAMA, Jul 16, 2004, 1:00 am ET
State Department personnel changes bring new faces to US-Ukraine affairs
— By E. Morgan Williams
John F. Tefft served as Director of the Office of Northern European Affairs
from 1992 to 1994, Deputy Director of the Office of Soviet Union (later
Russian and CIS) Affairs from 1989 to 1992 and Counselor for
Political-Military Affairs at the US Embassy in Rome from 1986 to 1989.
His other foreign assignments included Budapest and Jerusalem, as well as
service on the US Delegation to the START arms control negotiations in 1985.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ambassador John F. Tefft has been appointed
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
(EUR). His appointment was effective on July 6, 2004. He has been a
career member of the Foreign Service since 1972 specializing in
European affairs.
Ambassador Steven K. Pifer, the previous Deputy Assistant Secretary
and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, completed his assignment in
early July. For several years Ambassador Pifer has been one of the top
experts in the U.S. government regarding Ukrainian issues.
In his new position Ambassador Tefft supervises the offices in the State
Department's European Bureau responsible for U.S. bilateral relations
with Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, and Belarus, as well as the office of
Policy and Regional Affairs, which coordinates non-proliferation,
security assistance export control and other issues throughout the
European Bureau.
Tefft most recently served as International Affairs Advisor (Deputy
Commandant) at the National War College in Washington, D.C. From
2000 to 2003 he was U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania.
Leaders of the Baltic community in Washington speak very highly
of John Tefft's service while U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania. They say
he handled several difficult issues very successfully and assisted
Lithuania in making the right decisions in some tough, key areas.
Tefft served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in
Moscow from 1996-1999, and was Charge d'affaires at the
Embassy from November 1996 -September 1997.
Mark Taplin has been serving as the Director for Ukraine, Moldova
and Belarus in the European and Eurasia office under Ambassador
Pifer. Mark previously served in the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. His
assignment will be completed in late summer. Karen Stewart will
become the new Director. Her previous assignment was Deputy Chief
of Mission (DCM) at the U.S. Embassy in Minsk, Belarus.
Julie Nutter has been the Deputy Director and Senior Ukraine Desk
Officer in the Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus office. Julie's assignment
will be completed at the end of this week. Marcus Micheli will
assume this position. Marcus has been serving in the U.S. Embassy
in Moscow. His previous assignments included a tour at the Embassy
in Kyiv.
Peter Higgins, Ukraine Desk Officer (economic issues) and Dr. Paul
Carter, Ukraine Desk Officer (political issues) will continue in their
positions at the Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus office.
Another one of the top U.S. State Department experts regarding Ukraine
has moved to a new assignment, Carlos Pascual, former U.S. Ambassador
to Ukraine, has just left the position of U.S. Assistance Coordinator in the
Europe/Eurasia Bureau (EUR) and has been appointed to a new, high-
level State Department position dealing with fragile and post-conflict
states.
Ambassador Pascual's deputy, Tom Adams, has now become the new
U.S. Assistance Coordinator in the Europe/Eurasia Bureau. Also in that
office Milan Sturgis has assumed the position previously held by Mike
Scanlan as special advisor for democracy issues.
The members of the Action Ukraine Coalition give a very special word
of thanks to Ambassador Steven K. Pifer, Ambassador Carlos Pascual,
Mark Taplin, Julie Nutter, and Mike Scanlan for their outstanding work
and service regarding Ukrainian matters over the past few years. We
wish them the best possible success in their new responsibilities.
This report was published in the Action Ukraine Report on July 15, 2004.
E. Morgan Williams is the Executive Director of the Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA),
a member organization of the Action Ukraine Coalition.
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