US sends new top diplomat to Libya The new top U.S. diplomat for Libya has arrived in the county to assume temporary control of the embassy in Tripoli after last month's deadly attack on the consulate in Benghazi that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. The State Department said Thursday that Laurence Pope, an Arabic-speaking 31-year foreign service officer who retired in 2000, will serve as the charge d'affaires pending confirmation of the person who will be nominated to succeed Ambassador Chris Stevens, who died in the Sept. 11 attack. The department said that Pope, a former ambassador to Chad and counter-terrorism director, would continue the work that Stevens had been doing and that his appointment underscored a U.S. commitment to work with Libya as it transitions to democracy after decades of authoritarian rule.