Appointment of Robert S. Pastorino as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

The President today announced the appointment of Robert S. Pastorino as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs at the White House. Mr. Pastorino will succeed Jose S. Sorzano as Senior Director of Latin American Affairs on the National Security Council staff.

Mr. Pastorino is a career Foreign Service Officer who joined the Department of State in 1966. His early overseas assignments included political, economic, and commercial positions in Embassies in Caracas, Bogota, and Lisbon and in the U.S. consulate general in Hermosillo, Mexico. He was assigned to Mexico City as economic counselor in 1984, and as political counselor in 1985. He served as Charge d'Affaires in Tegucigalpa, Honduras between July and November 1986 and as deputy chief of mission until May 1987. Mr. Pastorino was then appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Inter-American Affairs. He has also served as a commodities negotiator and financial analyst at the Department of State.

Mr. Pastorino graduated from San Francisco State University. He was born in San Francisco, CA, in 1940, is married, and has three children.