Anne W. Patterson

Anne W. Patterson
United States Ambassador to Egypt
Incumbent
Assumed office June 30, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Margaret Scobey
United States Ambassador to Pakistan
In office July 31, 2007 – October 5, 2010
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Personal details
Born	1949 Fort Smith, Arkansas
Spouse(s)	David R. Patterson
Profession	Diplomat, Career Ambassador

Anne Woods Patterson (born 1949) is an American diplomat and career Foreign Service Officer. She currently serves as the United States Ambassador to Egypt. She previously served as acting United States Ambassador to the United Nations in 2005 and as United States Ambassador to Pakistan from July 2007 to October 2010.

Biography

Patterson was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She attended The Hockaday School in Dallas, Texas. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College and attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for one year. Patterson is married to David R. Patterson, a retired Foreign Service officer. The couple have two children.

Career

Patterson entered the Foreign Service in 1973.

She served as a US State Department Economic Officer and Counselor to Saudi Arabia from 1984 to 1988 and then as a Political Counselor at the United States Mission to the United Nations in Geneva from 1988 to 1991.

Patterson served as State Department Director for the Andean Countries from 1991 to 1993. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Inter-American Affairs from 1993 to 1996.

Patterson with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani

Patterson served as United States Ambassador to El Salvador from 1997 to 2000, and then as United States Ambassador to Colombia from 2000 to 2003. While ambassador to Colombia, Patterson and U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone were the alleged targets of a failed bomb plot while on an official visit to the Colombian town of Barrancabermeja. From 2003 to 2004 Patterson served as Deputy Inspector General of the US State Department.

In August 2004, Patterson was appointed Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Patterson became acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations after John Danforth resigned, effective January 20, 2005. An extended delay in the confirmation of John R. Bolton by the Senate (ending when Bolton assumed the position on August 1, 2005, after a recess appointment) caused Patterson to served as interim permanent representative longer than expected.

Patterson became Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs on November 28, 2005, serving until May 2007. President George W. Bush appointed Patterson as the United States Ambassador to Pakistan after Ryan Crocker left that post to become Ambassador to Iraq. She served in Pakistan between July 2007 and October 2010.

Just two months before former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a terror attack, Bhutto submitted a written request to Ambassador Patterson, asking Patterson for help carrying out an evaluation of the security because she feared for her life, say WikiLeaks cables. The cables also reveal that Patterson and the George W. Bush administration chose to ignore the request, suggesting instead Bhutto work constructively with General Pervez Musharraf's government -- the same organisation that she insisted was out to kill her.

Bhutto had made the request to the US Ambassador immediately after a terror strike killed more than 130 people at a rally organized by the Pakistan Peoples Party on October 18, 2007 in Karachi. The rally was organised to welcome her back to Pakistan after her eight years' exile . According to the Wikileaks cables, Bhutto told Ambassador Patterson that she did not believe that the Pakistan Government was providing the security she needed and she was in danger.

In May 2011 President Obama nominated Patterson to be the U.S.' ambassador to Egypt. On June 30, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed Patterson by unanimous consent to be the United States Ambassador to Egypt.

References

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Alan H. Flanigan	United States Ambassador to El Salvador 1997 – 2000	Succeeded by Rose M. Likins
Preceded by Curtis W. Kamman	United States Ambassador to Colombia 2000 – 2003	Succeeded by William B. Wood
Preceded by John Danforth	Acting United States Ambassador to the United Nations 2005	Succeeded by John R. Bolton
Preceded by Ryan Crocker	United States Ambassador to Pakistan 2007 – 2010	Succeeded by Cameron Munter
Preceded by Margaret Scobey	United States Ambassador to Egypt 2011 – present	Succeeded by incumbent
Government offices
Preceded by Robert B. Charles	Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs 2005 – 2007	Succeeded by David T. Johnson