Ambassador Jerry P. Lanier, who joined the Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) in November 2012 as Principal Deputy Coordinator, is a career diplomat with 29 years of service in the U.S. Department of State. Prior to joining the CT Bureau, he served briefly as a faculty member at the National Defense University and, prior to that, served as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Uganda from 2009 to 2012. He was also the first Foreign Policy Advisor for the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Previously, he was the Director of Regional and Security Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department. Ambassador Lanier has also served in the Philippines, Kenya, Thailand, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Ghana.
At the State Department, he has served as special assistant to the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, country officer for the Republic of Korea, Legislative Management Officer for Africa, Deputy Director for the Office of West African Affairs, and Deputy Director for the Office Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh Affairs.
He received his B.A. at Pembroke State University, his M.A. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served three years as lecturer in the History Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, North Carolina.
