The Slatest

Amb. Stevens Was Career Diplomat, Former Peace Corps Volunteer

A vehicle and surrounding buildings smolder after they were set on fire inside the US consulate.
A vehicle and surrounding buildings smolder after they were set on fire inside the US consulate compound in Benghazi late on Tuesday.

Photo by STR/AFP/Getty Images.

U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed Tuesday during an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, along with three American members of his staff.

Here’s Stevens’ officials State Department bio:

“Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He arrived in Tripoli in May 2012 as U.S. Ambassador to Libya. Ambassador Stevens served twice previously in Libya. He served as Special Representative to the Libyan Transitional National Council from March 2011 to November 2011 during the Libyan revolution and as the Deputy Chief of Mission from 2007 to 2009.

“Other overseas assignments include: Deputy Principal officer and Political Section Chief in Jerusalem; political officer in Damascus; consular/political officer in Cairo; and consular/economic officer in Riyadh. In Washington, Ambassador Stevens served as Director of the Office of Multilateral Nuclear and Security Affairs; Pearson Fellow with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; special assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs; Iran desk officer; and staff assistant in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.

“Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1991, Ambassador Stevens was an international trade lawyer in Washington, DC. From 1983 to 1985 he taught English as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco.

“He was born and raised in northern California. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1982, a J.D. from the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in 1989, and an M.S. from the National War College in 2010. He speaks Arabic and French.”