page_title: James Franklin Jeffrey
section_title: Middle East affairs
hierarchical_section_title: James Franklin Jeffrey / Career / Middle East affairs
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: James Jeffrey während der Münchener Sicherheitskonferenz 2019
context_page_description: James Franklin Jeffrey is an American diplomat who serves as the United States Special Representative for Syria Engagement and the Special Envoy to the International military intervention against ISIL.
  He has held senior assignments in Washington, D.C., and abroad, including as United States Ambassador to Iraq; United States Ambassador to Turkey; Deputy National Security Advisor; and United States Ambassador to Albania. In 2010 Jeffrey was appointed to the highest rank in the U.S. Foreign Service, Career Ambassador. From 1969 to 1976, Jeffrey was a U.S. Army infantry officer, with service in Germany and Vietnam.
  Jeffrey is a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a member of the CIA External Advisory Board, a member of the American Council on Germany, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the advisory board for America Abroad Media. He is a frequent commentator on broader foreign policy, national security, and economic trends.
context_section_description: In 1996 Jeffrey was selected as Deputy Chief of Mission to the American Embassy Kuwait, and served during Operation Desert Fox and the evacuation of Embassy Kuwait. In 1999 he returned to Turkey, as Deputy Chief of Mission. After serving as Ambassador to Albania from 2002 to 2004, he was selected by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Ambassador John Negroponte to bridge the transition from the Coalition Provisional Authority to the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and subsequently served as Deputy Chief of Mission from 2004 to 2005. He served as Chargé d'Affaires in Baghdad before returning to Washington to serve as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s Special Advisor for Iraq from 2006 to 2007. Jeffrey then served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, covering broader Middle East policy matters, including co-chairing the Interagency Iran Policy Group.
  President George W. Bush nominated Jeffrey as Ambassador to Turkey in 2008, where he served in his fourth and final assignment to Turkey until 2010. President Barack Obama nominated him to serve as Ambassador to Iraq in 2010. Jeffrey oversaw its expansion into the largest Embassy in the world with almost 16,000 employees and an annual budget of over $6 billion, and worked with the U.S. military to ensure a successful transition to a civilian lead. According to Voice of America, after this successful transition, Iraq is now increasingly coming under the control of Iran. Along with being the U.S. ambassador for Syrian engagement during the Syrian Civil War, he also assumed the role of Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 4 January 2019.
caption: Jeffrey during the MSC 2019
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