From White House: Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate
Douglas Edward Lute, of Indiana, to be United States Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
Victoria Nuland, of Virginia, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Minister, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (European and Eurasian Affairs), vice Philip H. Gordon, resigned.
From White House: Douglas E. Lute, Nominee for United States Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Department of State
Douglas E. Lute is Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for South Asia on the White House National Security Staff. He retired from active duty in the United States Army as a Lieutenant General in 2010, after 35 years of service. From 2007 to 2009, he was Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan. From 2006 to 2007, he was Director of Operations (J3) on the Joint Staff. Previously, from 2004 to 2006, he was Director of Operations for the United States Central Command. General Lute’s previous positions include Deputy Director of Operations for the United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany; Assistant Division Commander in the 1st Infantry Division in Schweinfurt, Germany; Commander of U.S. Forces in Kosovo; and Commander of the Second Cavalry Regiment. He received a B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an M.P.A. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Ambassador Victoria Nuland, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, Department of State
Ambassador Victoria Nuland, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Minister, has served as the State Department Spokesperson since 2011. Previously, from 2010 to 2011, she was Special Envoy for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. Ambassador Nuland served on the faculty of the National War College from 2008 to 2010, after serving as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from 2005 to 2008. From 2003 to 2005, she was Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President, and from 2000 to 2003, she served as U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO. From 1997 to 1999, Ambassador Nuland was Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large for the former Soviet States at the Department of State. Ambassador Nuland served overseas at the U.S. Embassies in Moscow from 1991 to 1993, Mongolia in 1988, and at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China from 1985 to 1986. She received a B.A. from Brown University. (photo: BBC)