Ted Osius

American diplomat

Ted Osius


President & CEO of US-ASEAN Business Council
Incumbent
Assumed office August 23, 2021^[1]
Preceded by	Alexander C. Feldman
United States Ambassador to Vietnam
In office December 16, 2014 – November 4, 2017^[2]
President	Barack Obama Donald Trump
Deputy	Susan B. Sutton
Preceded by	David B. Shear
Succeeded by	Daniel Kritenbrink
Deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of the United States, Jakarta
In office 2009–2012
President	Barack Obama
Succeeded by	Heather Variava
Political Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of the United States, New Delhi
In office 2006–2009
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Deputy director of the Office of Korean Affairs in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
In office 2004–2006
President	George W. Bush
Regional Environment Officer at the Embassy of the United States, Bangkok
In office 2001–2004
President	George W. Bush
Senior Advisor on International Affairs at the Office of the Vice President
In office 1998–2001
President	Bill Clinton
Political Officer at the Embassy of the United States, Hanoi
In office 1996–1998
President	Bill Clinton

Personal details
Born	Theodore George Osius III^[3] 1961 (age 62–63)^[4] San Francisco, California, United States^[5]
Spouse	Clayton Bond (m. 2006)
Children	2
Alma mater	Harvard University (AB) Johns Hopkins University (MA)

Theodore George Osius III (born 1961) is an American diplomat and the former United States Ambassador to Vietnam.^[6]

Early life and education

Osius grew up in Annapolis, Maryland.^[5] He attended The Putney School in Vermont, graduating in 1979.

Osius attended Harvard University, where he wrote for The Harvard Crimson and attained a Bachelor of Arts in social studies.^[7] After graduating in 1984, he interned at the American University in Cairo for a year. He then worked as a legislative correspondent for Senator Al Gore from 1985 to 1987. Osius later attended the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, graduating with a Master of Arts in international economics and U.S. foreign policy in 1989.^[7]

In addition to English, Osius speaks Vietnamese, French and Italian, as well as a bit of Arabic, Hindi, Thai, Japanese, and Indonesian.^[7]

Career

Osius joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1989.^[7] Osius' first assignment was in Manila, from 1989 to 1991. Other early assignments included Vatican City and the United Nations.

In 1996, Osius was among the first U.S. diplomats to work in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War. In 1997, he helped with the establishment of the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.^[7] In 1998 Osius returned to advise Vice President Al Gore on Asian affairs. In 2001, Osius became regional environmental affairs officer at the U.S. embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2004, he returned to Washington, D.C. to work as the deputy director of the Office of Korean Affairs in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. In 2008, Osius was assigned to New Delhi, India as political minister-counselor.^[6]

In 2009, Osius became the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.^[6]

Osius returned again to Washington in 2012 to work as a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In 2013, he became an associate professor at National Defense University.^[7]

In May 2014, Osius was nominated by President Barack Obama to be U.S. ambassador to Vietnam.^[8] Osius was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in November 2014.^[9] As ambassador, Osius presented his credentials on December 16, 2014.^[6]

Personal life

Osius is openly gay.^[10] In 2004, Osius met his future husband, Clayton Bond, then a watch officer in the State Department's operations center, at a meeting of Gays and Lesbians in Foreign Affairs Agencies. They were married in 2006 in Vancouver, Canada. He and Bond have two children, a son and a daughter.^[7]^[11]

References

^ "Former U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius Named New President & CEO of US-ASEAN Business Council". US-Asean Business Council. 22 August 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
^ "PM praises US Ambassador for successful term". Vietnam News. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
^ "Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence -- Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)". 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
^ "US President Trump intends to nominate new ambassador to Vietnam". Voice of Vietnam. July 28, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Ted Osius says Vietnam ambassadorship 'dream come true'". Washington Blade. November 20, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Ted Osius, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam". U.S. Department of State. 2017. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam: Who Is Ted Osius?". AllGov. August 10, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^ "Ted Osius Becomes 7th Openly LGBT Person Nominated to Serve as Ambassador by Obama Administration". Human Rights Campaign. May 19, 2014. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^ "Gay diplomat confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam". Washington Blade. November 18, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^ "The six openly gay U.S. ambassadors were together in one room". Washington Post. March 25, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^ "Meet Vietnam's Gay Power Couple: U.S. Ambassador and His Husband". Bloomberg News. August 2, 2015. Retrieved March 11, 2016.