Thomas A. Shannon

Thomas A. Shannon

Thomas Alfred "Tom" Shannon, Jr. (* 1958 ) is an American diplomat . In early 2017, Shannon served as the acting United States Secretary of State until President Donald Trump's nominee Rex Tillerson was confirmed by the U.S. Senate . As simultaneously served Shannon Acting Deputy Foreign Minister (Acting Deputy Secretary of State the United States) , as long as the Senate President Trumps candidate John J. Sullivan had not yet been confirmed.

Life

Thomas Shannon received a BA in Political Science with Honors from the College of William & Mary in 1980 . He then earned an M.Phil from the University of Oxford . (1982) and the D. Phil. (1983), also in political science. He joined the United States Foreign Service diplomatic service in 1984 as a Foreign Service Officer and was Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere from October 12, 2005 as the successor to Roger Noriega until his replacement by Arturo Valenzuela on November 10, 2009 after various posts Affairs and thus head of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs . He then became the United States' Ambassador to Brazil on December 29, 2009 and handed over his credentials there on February 4, 2010 as the successor to Clifford Sobel . He remained in this post until September 6, 2013 and was then replaced by Liliana Ayalde . In this position, he was awarded the title Career Ambassador on December 26, 2012 , the highest rank in the diplomatic service.

After his return, Shannon was born on Dec. 24, 2013, succeeding Heather Higginbottom in the rank of a United States Under Secretary of State Counselor ( Counselor of the United States Department of State ) in the US Department of State (State Department) and has held this function up to 12 February 2016. On February 12, 2016, Shannon's appointment to succeed Wendy Sherman as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs was confirmed by the Senate . He thus took the third highest position in the State Department after the Secretary of State and the Deputy Secretary of State and was as such head of the Department of Political Affairs until June 4, 2018. His successor in this role was David Hale , after Stephen Mull temporarily held this role from June 5 to August 29, 2018. As such, he was acting Secretary of State ad interim from the beginning of the term of office of US President Donald Trump until Foreign Minister Rex Tillerson took office . He then acted as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs after Tony Blinken left government service on February 1, 2017 until John J. Sullivan took office on May 24, 2017, at the same time as acting Deputy Foreign Minister ( Acting Deputy Secretary of State) and thus took the second highest position in the State Department after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Shannon speaks Spanish and Portuguese. He is married to Guisela Shannon.

Web link

• Thomas A. Shannon on the homepage of the Office of the Historian of the US State Department

Individual evidence

1. ^ Assistant Secretaries of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
2. ^ Chiefs of Mission for Brazil
3. ^ Career Ambassadors
4. ^ Counselors
5. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ^ Under Secretaries of State for Political Affairs
7. ^ Secretaries of State ad interim
8. ↑ Department of State - Biography - Thomas A. Shannon Jr. ( Memento of the original from July 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ W&M alumnus Thomas Shannon Jr. named acting secretary of state . January 20, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2017.