Marc Grossman

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Marc Grossman
Marc Grossman

In 2005, Ambassador Marc Grossman completed 29 years of public service when he retired from the State Department as the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Ambassador Grossman served as the Department’s third-ranking official, supporting U.S. diplomacy worldwide.

Ambassador Grossman previously served as the Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources from 2000 to 2001. At the direction of the Secretary of State, he revamped the State Department’s human resource strategies, including the Department’s strategies for training, assigning, and retaining personnel both at home and abroad.

As Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs from 1997 to 2000, Ambassador Grossman was responsible for over 4,000 State Department employees posted in 50 sites abroad with a program budget of $1.2 billion. He played a lead role in orchestrating NATO's 50th anniversary Summit in Washington in 1999 and helped direct U.S. participation in NATO’s military campaign in Kosovo that same year.

Ambassador Grossman was U.S. Ambassador to Turkey from 1994 to 1997. In Turkey, he promoted security cooperation, human rights and democracy, and a vibrant U.S.-Turkish economic relationship. Ambassador Grossman had previously served as the U.S. Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission from 1989 to 1992.

As the Executive Secretary of the State Department and Special Assistant to the Secretary of State from 1993 to 1994, Ambassador Grossman managed operations for the senior State Department leadership. He served as the Deputy Director of the Private Office of Lord Carrington, the Secretary General of NATO, from 1983 to 1986 and at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan from 1976 to 1983.

A native of Los Angeles, California, Ambassador Grossman graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara and later received an MSc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. As a result of his outstanding service to his country, Ambassador Grossman is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. He attained the Foreign Service’s highest rank in 2004 when the President appointed him to the rank of Career Ambassador; he received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award the following year. Ambassador Grossman serves on the Board of Directors/Trustees of a number of non-profit and educational institutions.

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[edit] Valerie Plame Affair

Grossman played a peripheral role in the Plame Affair, at least in terms of what is currently known.

On 10 June 2003, an analyst at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) sent a memo to Ambassador Grossman outlining Ambassador Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger and mentioning that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Reportedly, Grossman wanted the memo as background to use at a White House meeting on criticism of President Bush for using the Niger claim in his State of the Union speech.

According to the Washington Post, Grossman has refused to answer questions about the memo. The Post says it is not clear if Grossman actually talked about the memo or mentioned Mrs. Wilson at the meeting.[1]

On 6 July 2003, Richard Armitage asked the head of INR, Carl Ford, to send a copy of the memo to Colin Powell aboard Air Force One.

In Patrick Fitzgerald's indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on October 28, 2005, Grossman is the Under Secretary of State mentioned as giving information about Plame to Libby.

It has been suggested by Libby's legal defense that Grossman is biased because, according to Theodore Wells, Libby's defense lawyer, Grossman and Wilson went to college and came up through the ranks of the State Department together.[2]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus, "Cheney's Office Is A Focus in Leak Case: Sources Cite Role Of Feud With CIA," Washington Post October 18, 2005: A01, accessed October 13, 2006.
  2. ^ "Libby Denied Access To CIA Leak Data: Federal Judge Does Not Want Case To Become An Iraq War Debate," CBS News May 5, 2005, accessed October 13, 2006.

Grossman has also been accused of being a spy for Israel and having some involvement in illegal arms trading with Turkey.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Richard Clark Barkley		 United States Ambassador to Turkey
1994 – 1997		 Succeeded by
Mark Robert Parris
Preceded by
Thomas R. Pickering		 Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
2001 – 2005		 Succeeded by
R. Nicholas Burns