InternationalEnvoy to NATO nominated U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
Published: Tuesday May 24, 2011
John Heffern. U.S. Mission to NATO, Feb. 2011
Washington - John A. Heffern, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and current deputy chief of the U.S. Mission to NATO, was nominated to become the next U.S. ambassador to Armenia, White House reported on May 18.
Prior to his latest NATO assignment, Heffern served as deputy ambassador to Indonesia, and his earlier assignments included postings to Japan, Malaysia, Ivory Coast, Taiwan and China.
While working in Brussels as political advisor at the time of U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and as deputy representative since 2009, Heffern became involved in some tangentially Armenia-related issues. According to published media reports, these included mobilizing allied and partner support for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and formulating relations with Russia in aftermath of its 2008 war with Georgia.
In Jakarta in the mid-2000s, Heffern was deputy to then U.S. Ambassador Lynn Pascoe who in 1997-98 was U.S. negotiator for Karabakh.
Graduate of Michigan State University, Heffern completed two stints on Capitol Hill.
In 1994-6, as Pearson Fellow on the House International Relations Committee's Asia Sub-Committee under former Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-Neb.). Before joining the State Department in 1982, Heffern was office director and research assistant for the former Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.).
Heffern's nomination is expected to be considered by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over the summer.
"We look forward to a thorough confirmation process that will explore whether Mr. Heffern is prepared to serve as a principled voice for truth and justice about the Armenian Genocide, and a powerful voice for a mutually-beneficial U.S.-Armenia relationship that both builds upon the work of the Armenian American community and reinforces the enduring bonds between the American and Armenian peoples," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) in a comment e-mailed on May 19.
In 2006, ANCA led a successful campaign to block the nomination of Richard Hoagland as ambassador to Armenia, after then Ambassador John Evans (2004-6) was called back early over his remarks affirming the Armenian Genocide.
Hoagland's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was interpreted as questioning veracity of the Armenian Genocide and as a result his nomination was held by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).
Heffern would be succeeding Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch who began her term in 2008. Following State Department policy, in her testimony Yovanovitch refused to use the Genocide term but was nonetheless not blocked by senators.
Yovanovitch is expected to become deputy assistant secretary of state overseeing relations with countries of northern and central Europe.
