page_title: John A. Heffern
section_title: Ambassadorship to Armenia
hierarchical_section_title: John A. Heffern / Ambassadorship to Armenia
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District officials joined U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern and Office of Defense Cooperation representatives at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 2 in Yerevan for Special School #17. The school, which offers education and rehabilitation services, is the only government facility in Armenia for children with severe mobility problems. Half of its 110 students reside at the school. The two-story masonry building needed major repairs to the roof, cafeteria, kitchen, lavatories, bedrooms, heating and air-ventilation systems, water supply, sewage and electricity system. The main entrance and corridors also got an overhaul. The $326,285 renovation project began last September and was completed a month ahead of schedule. Others attending the ceremony included Special School #17 Director Amalya Harutyunyan; Capt. Aaron Isaacson of the ODC; and Gwendolyn Nelson, project engineer for Europe District’s Caucasus Project Office. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers courtesy photo)
context_page_description: John A. Heffern is an American diplomat. Heffern served as the United States Ambassador to Armenia from 2011 to 2014. After being nominated on May 18, 2011 by United States President Barack Obama, Heffern was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 26, 2011 and sworn in as Ambassador on October 6, 2011. He was replaced by Ambassador Richard M. Mills, Jr. in early 2015.
context_section_description: Initially, U. S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) held up Heffern's nomination as a protest against President Barack Obama's "refusal to characterize the Turkish killing of Armenians during World War I as a 'genocide.'" At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Heffern dodged the controversy by stating that "the characterization of those events...is a policy decision that is made by the President of the United States.",  He was later unanimously approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and confirmed by the U. S. Senate.
  In the fall of 2011, Heffern expressed his view that Armenia's elections in 2012 and 2013 would be "regarded as democratic," and described his meetings with Armenian president Serge Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian as "'very good'."
  On April 3, 2012, addressing a meeting in Yerevan, Armenia dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Armenia-U. S. relations, According to the Yerevan Report, Ambassador Heffern stated that "bilateral dialogue between the two countries is held at the highest level." Proof of this includes the facts that "Armenian President Serge Sargsyan had a meeting with US President Obama and...US State Secretary Clinton paid a visit to Armenia--for the first time during the last 18 years."
  Heffern followed his predecessor by posting video blogs on topics related to Armenia and his service in that country to YouTube, under the "usembassyarmenia" tag.
  His term ended on December 22, 2014.
  Heffern later served, for several months in 2017, as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, before being removed in August.
caption: Heffern in 2013
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1024", "Image ImageLength": "768", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A650 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2013:09:04 15:49:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Tag 0x1001": "2592", "Image Tag 0x1002": "1944", "Image Padding": "[]", "Image ExifOffset": "2392", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5354", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6754", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "640", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:09:02 15:01:59", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:09:02 15:01:59", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "37/5", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "00", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "00", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "819", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "753", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "864000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "648000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4192"}