Joseph W. Westphal was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on March 26, 2014.

Prior to this appointment, Ambassador Westphal was the Under Secretary of the Army and its Chief Management Officer from 2009 to 2014.  In that capacity, Secretary Westphal managed a force of more than one million soldiers and several hundred thousand civilians.  He also held the positions of Assistant Secretary of the Army in the Clinton Administration and Acting Secretary of the Army in the Bush Administration.

Ambassador Westphal’s career spans more than 40 years of service in higher education and government.  He has taught at Oklahoma State University, Georgetown University and the University of Maine where he was also Chancellor of the University System.

In government, he worked in both the House and Senate for more than twelve years.  He held positions in the administrations of Presidents Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, and Obama, working in the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Defense.

Ambassador Westphal and his wife Linda have four children and six grandchildren.

Contact Information

American Embassy
Unit 61307
APO AE 09803

Phone: 9661-4883800
Fax: 9661-4887360

Email: USEmbRiyadhWebSite@state.gov
Website: http://riyadh.usembassy.gov/