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Norland

Richard B.

Richard Norland retired in May 2025 after serving for 45 years as a career diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. He most recently served as Special Envoy for Libya. Ambassador Norland was also U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Georgia and Uzbekistan and Deputy Chief of Mission in Afghanistan and Latvia. He served as the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; International Affairs Advisor/Deputy Commandant at the National War College; Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council; and Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. Earlier in his career Ambassador Norland was Political Counselor in Dublin; U.S. Representative and acting Mission Head for the CSCE Mission to Georgia; Senior Arctic Official coordinating the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council; Chief of the U.S. Information Office in Tromso, Norway; and Political Officer in Moscow covering then-Soviet relations with the Middle East and Africa. He was also a Special Assistant for African Affairs to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs and worked on the South Africa and Norway-Denmark desks. His first tour was in Manama, Bahrain.

Ambassador Norland was born in Morocco, his parents’ first diplomatic assignment. Prior to joining the Foreign Service he worked as a legislative analyst in the Iowa House of Representatives. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with Masters’ Degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advance International Studies and the National War College. He is a two-time recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and was presented the Distinguished Civilian Service Award by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford. He speaks Russian, French and Norwegian. He and his wife Mary Hartnett have two children and five grandchildren.

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The American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD) is an independent, non-profit association of former senior US ambassadors and high-level government officials whose mission is to strengthen American diplomacy. AAD represents a unique wealth of talent and experience in the practice of American foreign policy, with over 370 members.

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