REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Republic of Tunisia
CANDIDATE: Joey R. Hood
Joey R. Hood is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. He most recently served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, U.S. Department of State, and was the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau from January to September 2021. Previously, Mr. Hood served in leadership positions overseas as the Chargé d’affaires a.i. and Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City, Kuwait, and the Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Hood’s demonstrated success as a leader, his current role as a principal policy maker for the Middle East and North Africa, and his two decades of diplomatic experience in the region, all combine to make him a well-qualified candidate to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia.
Among other assignments, Mr. Hood served as the Deputy Director and the Acting Director of the Office of Iranian Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, as the Public Affairs Officer of the U.S. Embassy, Doha Qatar, and as the Political-Economic Section Chief of the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen. He also worked as the Political and Economic Officer at the U.S. Embassy Asmara, Eritrea and as a Political-Military Officer at the U.S. Embassy Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Hood earned a B.A. Degree from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire and an M.A. Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts. He is the recipient of multiple State Department performance awards. Mr. Hood speaks French and Arabic.