Chief of Mission

Michael Scanlan
Chargé d'Affaires a.i.

Michael Scanlan arrived in Belarus on June 30, 2009 to serve as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim of the United States in Belarus.
 
Mr. Scanlan first became a U.S. diplomat in 1991 and was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in London.  In 1992 he helped open the U.S. Embassy in Almata, Kazakhstan.  From 1993 to1995 he served as the Chief of the Political and Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and served in the same capacity in Yerevan, Armenia from 1995 to 1996.  Mr. Scanlan was seconded to the United Nations from 1996 to 1998 and served as the Special Advisor to the Head of the Civil Affairs of the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES), Croatia.  From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Scanlan worked as the Chief of the Political and Economic Section of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok, Russia were he also served as the acting Consul General for three months.  During the same period, Mr. Scanlan was detailed for six months to Podgorica, Montenegro to open the U.S. office.  He then served from 2000 to 2002 as the Head of Office of the U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina, followed by an assignment to the State Department from 2002 to 2004 as the Special Advisor for Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus in the Office of the Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia.  In his most recent overseas assignment, Mr. Scanlan was the Head of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Technical Assistance Office at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, where he served from 2004 to 2008.

In 1984, Mr. Scanlan received a Bachelor of Science from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and in 1989 a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Mr. Scanlan has received five Superior and two Meritorious Honor Awards from the U.S. State Department.  Mr. Scanlan speaks Bosnian, Serbian, Russian, and is studying Belarusian.