THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts)
______________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release August 29, 1997
PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES R. NICHOLAS BURNS AS
AMBASSADOR TO GREECE
The President announced today his intent to nominate R. Nicholas Burns, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, as Ambassador to Greece.
Mr. Burns, of Massachusetts, began his career in 1983 in the Middle East as Vice Consul and Staff Assistant to the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. He served next at the American Consulate General in Jerusalem where he coordinated U.S. economic assistance in the West Bank and Gaza strip. He then returned to the United States to work in the Department's Operations Center and Secretariat. He went on to serve as Special Assistant to the Counselor of the Department from 1989-90 responsible for Soviet and Eastern European Affairs.
From 1993 to 1995, he served at the White House on the National Security Council staff. During his first three years there, he was Director for Soviet (and later Russian) Affairs. He had lead responsibility in the White House for advising the President and the National Security Advisor on all aspects of U.S. relations with the fifteen countries of the former Soviet Union. From 1995 until 1997, he served as Spokesman of the Department of State and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for Secretaries of State Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright.
Mr. Burns earned the Certificate Pratique de Langue Francaise from the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in 1977. He subsequently earned a B.A. in European History from Boston College in 1978, graduated Summa Cum Laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then received an M.A. with distinction from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1980 in International Economics and American Foreign Policy. Mr. Burns is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and International Institute of Strategic Studies. He speaks French and Arabic.