Adel al-Jubeir

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Adel al-Jubeir

Adel A. al-Jubeir (born February 1, 1962) is the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, and a former foreign policy advisor to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. He is a well-known representative of the Kingdom in the West, particularly the United States.

Al-Jubeir comes from a distinguished family, but is not Saudi royalty. He has lived, traveled and studied in many countries. He was born in Al Majma'ah, a little village near the capital Riyadh of Saudi Arabia, and received his first education in Germany, where his father was a cultural attache. Later he continued his college education at the University of North Texas and went on to pursue a Master's degree in international relations from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. In 1986 the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, hired al-Jubeir as his assistant for Congressional affairs. It was in 1991 during the second Gulf War that al-Jubeir first appeared to the world as the spokesman for the Saudi government.

Al-Jubeir has been a member of the Saudi Arabian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, and he was a visiting diplomatic fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations from 1994 to 1995. In 1999, al-Jubeir became Director of the Saudi Information Office.

In 2000 he was transferred to the Royal Court in Riyadh as advisor to then-Crown Prince Abdullah. With the ascension of the crown prince to the throne of Saudi Arabia, al-Jubeir was also promoted, thus becoming advisor to King Abdullah at the ministerial rank.

On December 21, 2006, The Washington Post reported that Saudi Arabia has informed the United States Department of State that it intends to appoint Adel al-Jubeir as the new ambassador to Washington. Al-Jubeir will replace Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud who resigned as ambassador after 15 months. Al-Jubeir's appointment will be formally announced after the U.S. Department of State accepts al-Jubeir credentials and notifies the Saudi government.

On January 29, 2007, The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) released a royal decree appointing Al-Jubeir as the Saudi ambassador to the United States of America at the rank of a minister at the Foreign Ministry.

Saudi Arabia has had only two ambassadors in the past 23 years: Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who left 1½ years ago after 22 years and now is the Saudi national security adviser; and Prince Turki al-Faisal, who quit this month, the new appointment comes in succession of a short stay of his predicossor, the saudi government wrapped his nomination with great secrecy since the news break of Prince Turki's sudden departure.

He has been featured in gossip columns for formerly dating NBC News anchor Campbell Brown. ~~Currently, he is engaged to Maysoon al Mazeyed and will get married later this year.~~ In December 2002, he was chosen as the Person of the Week by Time magazine.