Ambassador

George W. Colvin Jr Chargé d’affaires for Samoa

George Colvin joined the Foreign Service in April 1987 as a political officer.  His first overseas tour was in Paris, France, as vice-consul, from 1987 to 1989.  He then served in Khartoum, Sudan, as political officer from 1989 to 1991, returning to Washington, D.C., from 1991 to 1993 for a tour in the Office of Weapons Proliferation of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/PRO), working on missile proliferation issues.  During this tour, he received special training in missile technology at the Royal College of Military Science (RCMS) in the United Kingdom.  From 1993 to 1996 Mr. Colvin served as desk officer for Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Office of East African Affairs of the Bureau of African Affairs (AF/E), where he was the first desk officer to work with the newly independent State of Eritrea.  From 1996 to 1998 Mr. Colvin was assigned as chief of the political section in the U.S. Embassy in Kampala, Uganda.

From 1998 to 1999, Mr. Colvin undertook an excursion tour as a Pearson Fellow on the staff of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA); and upon her election as Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on International Affairs and Human Rights, Mr. Colvin became the Minority Staff Director of the Subcommittee.  From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Colvin returned to the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs as section chief for Africa and Latin America in the Office of Regional Security and Arms Transfers (PM/RSAT), where he worked extensively on such issues as providing support for UNAMSIL (the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone) and the sale to Chile of F-16 aircraft. 

Mr. Colvin served from 2001 to 2004 in AF/E as desk officer at different times for Somalia, Djibouti, and Kenya.  He worked on the establishment of the U.S. Marine base at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti as well as the State Visit of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki in 2004.  His work on the Kenya desk was recognized by a Meritorious Service Increase (MSI) by the Department of State promotion panel in 2004.  From 2004 to 2005, Mr. Colvin served as Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Asmara, Eritrea, receiving a second MSI for his work in this position.  After a short assignment in PM/RSAT as chief of the Europe section, Mr. Colvin was selected in 2006 as Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.S. Embassy in Apia, Samoa, arriving in August.  As the sole officer at post, he serves as chargé d’affaires in the absence of the Ambassador.

Mr. Colvin has received two individual Superior Honor Awards and three individual Meritorious Honor Awards from the Department of State.

In addition to his training at RCMS and extensive coursework at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Mr. Colvin has completed training programs in security assistance both for CONUS and overseas at the Defense Institute for Security Assistance Management (DISAM) in Dayton, Ohio.  Before joining the Foreign Service, he completed a Ph.D. degree in government at Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont University), in Claremont, California. 

Mr. Colvin is married to Carolyn H. Colvin, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist with extensive experience both as a university professor and in psychological practice.

November 2006