Daniel Joseph Kritenbrink is an American diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Vietnam. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he was nominated by President Donald Trump to become the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam on July 27, 2017. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 26, 2017. Prior to his nomination, Kritenbrink served as senior advisor for North Korea policy at the United States Department of State.
Kritenbrink has a B.A. from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and an M.A. from the University of Virginia. He has served as an American diplomat since 1994. He is a former Deputy Chief of Mission in Embassy Beijing and has held senior leadership positions at the Department of State and served as a senior director at the U.S. National Security Council. He speaks Chinese and Japanese.
