Accordance of the Personal Rank of Ambassador to Peter Tomsen While Serving as Special Envoy to the Afghan Resistance

The President today accorded the personal rank of Ambassador to Peter Tomsen, of California, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, in his capacity as Special Envoy to the Afghan Resistance.

Mr. Tomsen entered the Foreign Service in 1967. He has most recently completed an assignment as the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. He served in the political-military office of the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, 1967 - 1968. After a year of Vietnamese language training in Washington in early 1969, he was assigned to the U.S. Civilian-Military Advisory Organization in Vietnam, 1969 - 1970. He was a political officer of the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, 1971 - 1975; a political officer of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, 1977 - 1978; and a political officer of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, 1981 - 1983. From 1984 to 1987, he served in the Department of State as office director of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives.

Mr. Tomsen was born November 19, 1940 in Cleveland, OH. He graduated from Wittenberg University (B.A., 1962) and received a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1964. He served in the Peace Corps in Nepal, 1964 - 1966. Mr. Tomsen is married and has two children.