Appointment of Thomas E. McNamara as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for International Programs and African Affairs

The President today announced the appointment of Thomas E. McNamara as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for International Programs and African Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. He would succeed David C. Miller, Jr.

Ambassador McNamara has just returned from 3 years as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia. He joined the Department of State in 1965 and has served overseas in Paris, Lubumbashi, Bukavu, Moscow, and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kinshasa, Zaire, 1980 - 1983. In Washington he has worked in the State Department's Bureaus of European Affairs and Politico-Military Affairs and in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. From 1983 to 1986 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs. Before his assignment to Colombia, he was Director of Counterterrorism and Narcotics on the staff of the National Security Council.

Ambassador McNamara was born in New Haven, CT. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Manhattan College and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame. He is married to the former Emma Julia Fonseca and has two children.