WASHINGTON: United States President Joe Biden has announced his intention to nominate Robert F Godec to serve as ambassador to Thailand, the White House said in a statement on Friday.
The ambassadorial post has been vacant since the departure in January 2021 of Michael DeSombre, a political appointee of former president Donald Trump. Normally, the ambassador to Thailand is a professional foreign service officer, and the apointment of Mr Godec would mark a return to that tradition.
Currently, Michael Heath is Charge d' Affaires of the US Embassy in Bangkok.
According to the statement, Mr Godec now serves as Senior Coordinator for Afghanistan in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration at the US Department of State.
Previously, the career member of the Senior Foreign Service was Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs and served as Ambassador to Kenya from 2013 to 2019.
His other positions include Assistant Office Director for Thailand and Burma in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Director for Southeast Asian Affairs at the Office of the US Trade Representative.
Other nominations made by President Biden on Friday included Vinay Singh as Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Kalpana Kotagal as Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said the statement.
Under the US constitution, a Senate majority must confirm the president's nominations.