Adam Namm

Adam Namm
United States Ambassador to Ecuador
In office June 22, 2012 – September 28, 2015
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Douglas A. Koneff
Preceded by	Heather Hodges
Succeeded by	Todd C. Chapman
Personal details
Born	1963 (age 52–53) White Plains, New York
Spouse(s)	Mei Huang
Alma mater	Brown University National Defense University

Adam E. Namm (born 1963) is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service within the United States Foreign Service and former United States Ambassador to Ecuador. Prior to this post he was the Director of the State Department's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations.

Education and early career

A native of White Plains, New York, Namm holds an A.B. magna cum laude in International Relations from Brown University and an M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College. He speaks Spanish and French.^[1][2]

Diplomatic career

Namm entered the foreign service in 1987 and has served tours in Islamabad, Pakistan, Bogota, Colombia, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and in various domestic assignments.^[1][3] As the Director of OBO in Washington, D.C., he oversaw the opening of 24 international diplomatic facilities by the time of his testimony to the US Senate.^[4]

He was nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador by Barack Obama on September 6, 2011,^[5] but was slow to be confirmed by the Senate,^[2] due to blanket holds on all nominees to countries in the Western Hemisphere from senators, including Marco Rubio, who charged that the Obama "Administration’s policy towards Latin America has been defined by appeasement, weakness and the alienation of our allies."^[6] He arrived in Quito on 30 May 2012.^[7]

As ambassador, Namm has denied that Julian Assange, an Australian whistleblower who sought political asylum (from a perceived threat of extradition to the US) in Ecuador's Embassy in London on June 19, 2012, has any "pending charges" against him in the US, or that there could be an "intervention."^[8]

References

1. "Namm, Adam E.". Biography. US Department of State. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
2. Spero, Domani. "U.S. Senate Confirms Adam Namm as Ambassador to Ecuador – Finally!". DiploPundit. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
3. U.S. Embassy Quito website Archived June 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
4. Namm, Adam. "Testimony of Adam Namm" (PDF). US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
5. "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts". The White House. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
6. Rubio, Marco. "Senator Rubio to Oppose Administration's Western Hemisphere Nominations". InterAmerican Security Watch.
7. "Adam Namm llega a Ecuador y ofrece analizar con transparencia y respeto temas de interés mutuo". Agencia Pública de Noticias del Ecuador y Suramérica. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
8. "No Charges against Assange, Adam Namm". Radio Angulo. Retrieved 14 August 2012.