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 Turkey
CANDIDATE: David Michael Satterfield
Ambassador David Michael Satterfield, has served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs since 2017. He was Ambassador to Lebanon, 1998 to 2001. From 2014 to 2017, he was the Director General of the Multinational Force and Observers in Rome, Italy. Also in 2014, he was Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Libya, based in Tripoli, Libya. He was Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, 2013 to 2014, and Director General of the Multinational Force and Observers in Rome, 2009 to 2013.
Ambassador Satterfield was the Coordinator for Iraq and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State, 2006 to 2009. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad, Iraq, 2005 to 2006. He served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary (2001 to 2004), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (2004) and Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs (2004 to 2005). Other Washington assignments included Director of the Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Director for Near East Affairs at the National Security Council, and Director of the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State. Early in his career he served at the U.S. embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
Ambassador Satterfield speaks Arabic, French, Italian and Hebrew. He is the recipient of many awards including a Secretary of State Distinguished Service Award in 2009, a Presidential Distinguished Executive Rank Award in 2008, a Distinguished Honor Award in 2006, and the U.S. Department of the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Award. He earned a B.A. from the University of Maryland in 1976.