Theodore H. Kattouf

Theodore H. Kattouf "was sworn in on August 31, 2001 as the Ambassador to the Syrian Republic. Ambassador Kattouf was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1946. Upon graduating from the Pennsylvania State University, he served for 3-1/2 years in the U.S. Army infantry, attaining the rank of captain. He joined the Foreign Service in 1972. From 1973 to 1975, he served in Kuwait as an economic and commercial officer. Following Kuwait, he attended the Foreign Service Arabic Language Program in Beirut and Tunis before being assigned as a political officer in Damascus. Mr. Kattouf then returned to the United States to serve as a Middle East analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. From 1980 to 1982, he worked as the International Relations Officer in the Near East Bureau. In 1982-1983, Ambassador Kattouf was a State Department mid-career fellow at Princeton University.

"From 1983 to 1986, Mr. Kattouf served in Baghdad as Deputy Chief of Mission. He then served in Sanaa, one year as Deputy Chief of Mission, and one year as Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Mr. Kattouf returned to the United States in 1988 to serve as Deputy Director and subsequently Director of the Office of Arab North Affairs. In 1962, he returned overseas, first as Deputy Chief of Mission in Damascus, then as Deputy Chief of Mission in Riyadh, where he served from 1995 to 1998. President Clinton nominated Mr. Kattouf as Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and was confirmed by the Senate in September 1998. He was then nominated by President Bush to Syria and confirmed by the Senate in August 2001." 


 * President, AMIDEAST