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: Lebanese Republic
CANDIDATE: Dorothy Shea
Dorothy Shea, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy, Cairo, Egypt since 2017. Prior to that she served as the Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General, Jerusalem and as Director of the Office of Assistance for Asia and the Near East in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Ms. Shea further broadened her experience with service as one of the State Department’s students at the prestigious National War College and with an assignment as a Pearson Fellow with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Overseas she was the Political/Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy, Tunis, Tunisia and a Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. Earlier, she was a Director for Democracy and Human rights at the National Security Council, the White House. Her demonstrated leadership skills, coupled with her considerable regional expertise and broadly diverse career experience, make her an excellent candidate to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Lebanese Republic.
Among Ms. Shea’s other assignments, she was the Special Assistant to the Special Envoy for War Crimes Issues in the Department of State, detailed on a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship, and was Staff Assistant in the Policy Planning Staff. Earlier she served as a Desk Officer in the Office of West African Affairs, as a Foreign Affairs Analyst and Intelligence Watch Officer in the State Department, and as a Consular Officer at the U.S. Consulate General, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Ms. Shea earned her B.A. degree from the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and an M.S. degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She was awarded an M.A. degree from the National War College as well. She is the recipient of numerous State Department awards recognizing her performance. She speaks French and Arabic.