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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release July 13, 1998

            PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES CHRISTOPHER W. S. ROSS 
                        FOR RANK OF AMBASSADOR

The President today announced his intent to nominate Christopher W. S. Ross for the Rank of Ambassador during his tenure of service as Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the Department of State.

Ambassador Christopher Ross, of Los Angeles, California, entered the Foreign Service in 1968, as an officer of the U.S. Information Agency. In this capacity, he served successively in Libya, Morocco, Lebanon, and Algeria. In 1979, he entered service on detail to the Department of State, serving successively as Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d'Affaires of the American Embassy in Algeria (1970-81), Public Affairs Adviser to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (1981-82), Special Assistant to the Special Presidential Envoys to Lebanon and the Middle East (1982-84), Director of Regional Affairs of the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs of the Department of State (1984-88), Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (1985-88), Ambassador to Algeria (1988-91), and Ambassador to Syria (1991-98).

Ambassador Ross attended Princeton University, obtaining an A.B. degree in Oriental (Middle Eastern) Studies in 1965. He also attended the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, obtaining an M.A. in International Relations in 1967. Ambassador Ross speaks Arabic, French, and Greek.

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