The White House announced today that it was nominating retired Brigadier General James B. Smith as the new US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The announcement had this to say about Gen. Smith:
Brigadier General James B. Smith, Nominee for Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Brigadier General Smith (USAF, Ret.) is International Business Development Executive, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. Previous assignments at Raytheon include Vice President of Government Business in Wichita, Kansas, and Vice President of Precision Engagement in Tucson, Arizona. Prior to joining Raytheon, he was director of Navy C2 programs for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems. Gen. Smith served as deputy commander at the Joint Warfighting Center of the U.S. Joint Forces Command in Suffolk, Virginia, where he was responsible for managing the joint force exercise and training development program. General Smith’s distinguished aviation career includes combat sorties during Desert Storm. He commanded the 94th Tactical Fighter Squadron and 325th Operations Group. He served as the CSAF chair at the National War College and as Vice Director of Operations for the North American Air Defense Command. Gen. Smith previously served as commander of the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base in Japan. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in military history from the U.S. Air Force Academy and a Master’s degree in history from Indiana University. Gen. Smith is a distinguished graduate of the Naval War College, the Air Command and Staff College and the National War College.
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June:05:2009 - 03:37
Obama is chosing an executive of Raytheon for the post of Ambassador to KSA? Isn’t it amazing? I wonder what would happen if it was Bush the one who did something like that. What we will see next from Obama, a Haliburton executive as Ambassador to Iraq? Hmmm.
June:05:2009 - 05:48
The creditials are very good, but I am confused here as there is no work experience in Department of State or an expertise in the Middle East. ( I am confused—I thought that KSA would be the one of the most competitive posts)
June:05:2009 - 06:31
On the contrary. According to his biography (http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio.asp?bioID=7179) he worked in Saudi Arabia during the First Gulf War as “November 1990 – August 1991, assistant deputy commander for operations, 1st Tactical Fighter Wing, Langley Air Force Base, Va., and 4404th Provisional Wing, Dhahran Air Base, Saudi Arabia”. His credentials, therefore, are that he was deeply involved in the war against Iraq for the liberation of Kuwait. Not bad for a Diplomat.
June:05:2009 - 08:20
Most US ambassadors to politically important countries–or cushy countries–tend to be political appointees, i.e., not career diplomats. Ford Fraker was a banker; James Oberwetter was an oil man; Robert Jordan, an attorney. A fair measure of the importance of the relationship, in fact, is whether the ambassador is a political appointee. The US has had, for instance, just one career diplomat in London, ever. If you look at a listing of US Ambassadors to Saudi Arabia,, you can see the ebbing and flowing of importance.
Because ambassadors serve as the personal representative of the President, it’s often helpful that they have a personal relationship with him, can call him directly without going through the bureaucracy at State Dept., even at 0200 in the morning.
Political appointees can be good or bad–just as with career ambassadors. I’ve had both.
June:05:2009 - 14:38
John, do you know what was the exact involvement of Brigadier General James B. Smith in the Gulf War?
June:05:2009 - 17:12
I can only guess, given the information out there, that he was involved with, perhaps even commanding, the US fighter operations out of Dhahran, he was an F-15 pilot. Now, he may have moved on from fighters to almost anything, but it certainly had to do with air operations out of Dhahran.
June:06:2009 - 04:08
I THINK MR. SMITH WILL FIT IN THIS POST VERY WELL.
AMERICAN SAUDI TIES NEED SOME ONE WITH BOTH MIL. AND BUS. BACKGROUND.
I WISH HE GETS THE POST AND THAT HE IS SUCCESFUL.
I AM A SAUDI AND HAVE BEEN WORKING FOR THE LEGACY HUGHES/RAYTHEON FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS AND I HEARED GOOD NEWS ABOUT MR, SMITH.
WISH HIM THE BEST IN THIS CRUCIAL TIME OF THE US/SAUDI RELATIONS.
WE NEED TO GET CLOSER TO EACH OTHER.
WE NEED YOU AND YOU NEED US AS WELL.
ABU FAHAD.
June:06:2009 - 05:28
John,
is it a must for an American Ambassador in a Middle-East country to speak Arabic ?
June:06:2009 - 06:47
No, absolutely not. In fact, politically appointed ambassadors rarely speak the language of the country to which they’re accredited, unless they happen to be of ethnic/national origin from a country or region.
Their deputies–Deputy Chief of Missions, or DCM–almost always do speak the local language, however.
June:06:2009 - 06:48
Abu Fahd, thanks for your comment! Hope to see more in the future from you.