Ambassadors of the United States

Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated as ambassadors by the President to serve as United States diplomats to individual nations of the world, to international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Their appointment needs to be confirmed by the United States Senate. An ambassador can be appointed during a recess, but he or she can serve as ambassador only until the end of the next session of Congress unless subsequently confirmed. Ambassadors serve "at the pleasure of the President", meaning they can be dismissed at any time. Appointments change regularly for various reasons, such as reassignment or retirement.
An ambassador may be a career Foreign Service Officer (career diplomatCD) or a political appointee (PA). In most cases, career foreign service officers serve a tour of approximately three years per ambassadorship whereas political appointees customarily tender their resignations upon the inauguration of a new president. As embassies fall under the State Department's jurisdiction, ambassadors answer directly to the Secretary of State.
The United States Department of State provides lists of ambassadors which are updated periodically. (A recent list was issued on December 4, 2018. A further 24 nominees were confirmed on January 2, 2019, and a number of ambassadorships remain vacant.) A listing by country of past chiefs of mission is maintained by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State. That same office maintains a list of the names and appointment dates of past and present ambassadors-at-large, as well as chiefs of mission to international organizations. This information may also be available in the final pages of the aforementioned periodically updated lists of overseas ambassadors.
Current U.S. ambassadors.
Note that the information in this list is subject to change due to regular personnel changes resulting from retirements and reassignments. The State Department posts updated lists of ambassadors approximately monthly, accessible via an interactive menu-based website.
Ambassadors to international organizations.
Current ambassadors from the United States to international organizations:
Ambassadors-at-Large.
Current Ambassadors-at-Large from the United States with worldwide responsibility:
Other Chiefs of Mission.
Senior diplomatic representatives of the United States hosted in posts other than embassies. Unlike other consulates, these persons report directly to the Secretary of State.
Special Envoys, Representatives and Coordinators.
These diplomatic officials report directly to the Secretary of State. Many oversee a portfolio not restricted to one nation, often an overall goal, and are not usually subject to Senate confirmation. Unlike the State Department offices and diplomats listed in other sections of this Article, the offices and special envoys/representatives/coordinators listed in this Section are created and staffed by direction of top Federal Executive administratorsprimarily U.S. Presidents and Secretaries of Statewhose political or organizational management philosophies may not be shared by their successors. As such, many of these positions may go unfilled upon assumption of office by successor Presidential Administrations, with their offices sometimes merged with or subsumed into other offices, or abolished altogether.
Notable past ambassadors.
Many well-known individuals have served the United States as ambassadors, or in formerly analogous positions such as envoy, including several who also became President of the United States (indicated in boldface below). Some notable ambassadors have included:
Ambassadors killed in office.
Eight United States Ambassadors have been killed in officesix of them by armed attack and the other two in plane crashes.