Difference between revisions of "Richard E. Hoagland"

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Richard Eugene Hoagland (born 1950, Fort Wayne, Indiana)<ref>Richard Eugene Hoagland (1950–)</ref> is a career ambassador in the United States Department of State. He was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in State’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, 2013-2015. <ref name="State Department Bio of Hoagland">State Department Bio of Hoagland</ref> In the summer of 2016, based at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, he was the senior U.S. liaison to the Russian Reconciliation Center at the Russian military base in Latakia, Syria. Beginning January 2017, he will serve as interim U.S. Co-Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group for Nagorno-Karabakh.

From January 2011 to October 2013, he was the United States Deputy Ambassador to Pakistan,<ref name="State Department Bio of Hoagland"/> a title rarely used by State, but which has been used in other countries where the U.S. has a difficult diplomatic mission (notably in Embassy of the United States, Kabul as currently structured <ref name="Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan">Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan</ref> and in the structure of the U.S. mission to South Vietnam in the 1960s<ref name="United States Ambassador to South Vietnam">United States Ambassador to South Vietnam</ref>). The title Deputy Ambassador carries more political responsibility and weight than the more common title of Deputy Chief of Mission.

Before Ambassador Hoagland’s service in Pakistan, he was the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan from 2008 to January 2011. He previously served as the Ambassador to Tajikistan 2003–06, and as the Chargé d'affaires to Turkmenistan July 2007-July 2008.<ref name="State Department Bio of Hoagland"/>

Prior to that, Ambassador Hoagland was Director of the Office of Caucasus and Central Asian Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Department of State, June 2001-July 2003. In that position, he wrote and negotiated four of the key bilateral documents defining the Central Asian states’ enhanced relationship with the United States. After September 11, 2001, he initiated regular U.S.-Russia consultations in response to the mandate by Presidents Bush and Putin that the two governments work together to increase their collaboration and transparency in Central Asia and the Caucasus. In July 2002, this consultative group became part of the ongoing U.S.-Russia Counterterrorism Working Group.<ref name="State Department Bio of Hoagland"/>

A member of the Senior Foreign Service (Minister-Counselor), Ambassador Hoagland’s earlier assignments included Director of the Office of Public Diplomacy in the South Asia Bureau of the State Department (1999-2001) where his additional portfolio was Special Adviser to the National Security Council for public diplomacy on Afghanistan. His foreign assignments have included Russia (where he was Press Spokesman for the U.S. Embassy), Uzbekistan, and Pakistan twice—the first time (1986-1989) working with the Afghan Resistance during the Soviet-Afghan War. He also served in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research where he was the lead analyst for Afghanistan (1989-1991). Subsequently, because of his Afghanistan expertise, he was U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Afghanistan (1991-1992). During the course of his career, he has received multiple State Department Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, as well as Presidential Performance Awards.<ref name="State Department Bio of Hoagland"/>

Hoagland has degrees from the University of Grenoble and the University of Virginia. He was a professor at the University of Virginia and taught English in Zaire before he joined the foreign service.<ref name="State Department Bio of Hoagland"/>

Ambassador Hoagland was nominated for the United States ambassadorship to Armenia on May 23, 2006. His predecessor John Marshall Evans was recalled from his position in May 2006 after publicly speaking about the Armenian Genocide.<ref name = "aaa1">Armenian Assembly of America, May 24, 2006: "President Bush Nominates Richard Hoagland as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia"</ref><ref name="boston">The Boston Globe, August 30, 2006: “Armenians Try to Stall Appointment of U.S. Envoy”</ref> On August 1, 2006, the Armenian Assembly of America announced that Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Joe Biden together with Senator John Kerry requested a hold on Hoagland's nomination, claiming that he hoped the Administration "will find a way to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide."<ref name="aaa2">" Armenian Assembly of America, August 1, 2006</ref> On September 12, 2006, New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez issued a hold on the confirmation vote for Hoagland, stating that "if the Bush Administration continues to refuse to acknowledge the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide, then there is certainly cause for great alarm, which is why I am placing a hold on this nominee." <ref name="anca">Armenian National Committee of America, September 12, 2006: “ANCA Welcomes Menendez ‘Hold’ on Hoagland Nomination”</ref><ref name="rfer">Radio Free Europe, September 13, 2006: “Genocide Issue Blocks Naming Of U.S. Ambassador To Armenia”</ref>

With the new congress in January 2007, the stalled nomination had expired, and on January 9, 2007 Richard Hoagland was renominated as ambassador to Armenia.<ref>Yerkir, January 10, 2007: White House Repeatedly Offered Hoagland’s Candidacy as US Ambassador to Armenia</ref> The nomination was withdrawn by the White House on August 3, 2007 <ref name="whitehouse">The White House August 03, 2007: "Nominations and Withdrawal Sent to the Senate"</ref>

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