The UN Secretary-General has appointed Jeffrey D. Feltman of the United States as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs. Feltman will replace B. Lynn Pascoe to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service to the United Nations and for his able leadership of the Department of Political Affairs during a challenging period.
Feltman who recently served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs with the rank of Career Minister, brings to the position over 26 years of political and diplomatic experience within the United States Foreign Service, mostly handling Eastern European and Middle Eastern affairs.
Feltman served as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Lebanon until 2008, previously heading the Coalition Provisional Authority’s office in the Irbil province of Iraq, acting simultaneously as Deputy Regional Coordinator. He served until 2003 as Acting Principal Officer at the United States Consulate-General in Jerusalem and until 2001 as the Ambassador’s Special Assistant on Peace Process issues in the United States Embassy of Tel Aviv. Prior to this, he was Chief of the Political and Economic Section at the United States Embassy in Tunisia after having covered economic issues in the Gaza strip until 1998 at the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Feltman served until 1993 in the Office of Deputy Secretary Eagleburger as Special Assistant coordinating United States assistance to countries of Eastern and Central Europe, and acted as economic officer at the United States Embassy in Hungary till 1991, after completing his posting as a consular officer in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Feltman who speaks Arabic, French and Hungarian received his Bachelor’s degree in history and fine arts from Ball State University and his Master’s degree in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.