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Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

Creation of this Position

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: Dixy Lee Ray
State of Residency: Washington
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jan 19, 1975
Entry on Duty: Jan 19, 1975
Termination of Appointment: Jun 20, 1975
Note: Although each of the other Assistant Secretaries was commissioned merely as "an Assistant Secretary of State" and then given a functional designation by administrative action, Dr. Ray, in the light of the legislation that created her position, was commissioned "an Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs." The title has been given in full in all subsequent commissions to this office.

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: Frederick Irving
State of Residency: Rhode Island
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Mar 29, 1976
Entry on Duty: Apr 28, 1976
Termination of Appointment: Mar 26, 1977

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: Patsy T. Mink
State of Residency: Hawaii
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Mar 23, 1977
Entry on Duty: Mar 28, 1977
Termination of Appointment: May 1, 1978

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: Thomas R. Pickering
State of Residency: New Jersey
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Sep 23, 1978
Entry on Duty: Oct 10, 1978
Termination of Appointment: Feb 24, 1981

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: James L. Malone
State of Residency: Virginia
Non-career appointee
Appointment: May 22, 1981
Entry on Duty: Jun 1, 1981
Termination of Appointment: Jul 22, 1985

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: John Dimitri Negroponte
State of Residency: New York
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: Jul 12, 1985
Entry on Duty: Jul 19, 1985
Termination of Appointment: Nov 23, 1987

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: Frederick M. Bernthal
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Non-career appointee
Appointment: May 23, 1988
Entry on Duty: May 24, 1988
Termination of Appointment: Mar 16, 1990

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: E. U. Curtis Bohlen
State of Residency: Maine
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Jun 27, 1990
Entry on Duty: Jun 27, 1990
Termination of Appointment: Oct 31, 1992

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: Elinor G. Constable
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Foreign Service officer
Appointment: May 26, 1993
Entry on Duty: Jun 2, 1993
Termination of Appointment: Sep 15, 1995

Title: Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Name: Eileen B. Claussen
State of Residency: District of Columbia
Non-career appointee
Appointment: Dec 19, 1996
Entry on Duty: Jan 29, 1997
Termination of Appointment:
Note: Commissioned during a recess of the Senate. An earlier nomination of Jul 17, 1993, was not acted upon by the Senate.

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Creation of Position: On Oct 18, 1973, Congress in the Department of State Appropriations Authorization Act (P.L. 93-126; 87 Stat. 453) authorized a Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and specified that it be headed by an Assistant Secretary of State. The new Bureau, established on Oct 8, 1974, incorporated the duties and responsibilities of several components in the Department of State, which were then abolished. These were: the Office of International Scientific and Technological Affairs, whose Director had held rank equivalent to an Assistant Secretary of State since 1965; the Office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary for Fisheries and Wildlife and Coordinator of Ocean Affairs; the Office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary for Population Matters; and the Special Assistant to the Secretary for Environmental Affairs. The Department had first appointed a Science Adviser in 1958.

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