William Jordan assumed his responsibilities as Deputy Chief of Mission in Algiers on July 15, 2009. His previous post was as Deputy Political Counselor at the American Embassy in Paris.

Jordan has been a political officer since joining the Foreign Service, specializing in the Arab world. Prior to his assignment to Paris, he was Director of the State Department’s Maghreb office in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. In this position, he played a key role in responding to the terrorist threat in northwestern Africa, normalizing relations with Libya, and seeking to achieve progress toward resolving the long-standing dispute over the Western Sahara.

Jordan has served in Saudi Arabia as a consular officer, and in Syria and Jordan as a political officer. His responsibilities have included studying and reporting on foreign policy trends, human rights conditions, the rise of radical Islamist forces, and domestic politics in those countries. He has also had advanced Arabic language training at the Foreign Service Institute in Tunis.

As a regional analyst at the State Department early in his career, Jordan worked on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Arabian Peninsula affairs, and regional Middle Eastern issues such as political Islam and prospects for political and economic reform. In addition to tours in and focused on the Arab world, he served in Paris, France, from 1997-2001, focusing on French policy toward Iraq, labor issues, internal politics, and UN affairs.

Jordan speaks both Arabic and French.

He was born in Portland, Maine on June 9, 1950, and has been married since 1978 to the former Leyla Baroody. The Pearces have two children: Jennifer, who recently received her master’s degree in community and regional planning at the University of Oregon; and Joseph, who was pursuing a master’s degree in Arabic studies at Georgetown University at the time of this writing.

Contact Information

American Embassy Algiers, Algeria
05 Chemin Cheikh Bachir Ibrahimi
El-Biar 16030
Alger Algerie

Phone: 0770-08-2000
Fax: 021-60-7335

Email: Algiers_webmaster@state.gov
Website: http://algiers.usembassy.gov