Stanton, Karen Clark, 1955-

<p>The new nation of Timor-Leste—in existence only since 2002—will soon have a new U.S. ambassador to deal with. Nominated July 31, Karen Clark Stanton has been executive director in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs since 2009. Although the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved her nomination on Halloween, a threat by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) to hold up all executive nominations until additional witnesses to the terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, testify, could delay final approval.</p>

<p>Born circa the 1960s, Karen Clark Stanton earned a B.A. at the University of Michigan and an M.S.S. at the National War College in 2000, where she wrote a paper on “Controlling Weapons of Mere Destruction.”</p>

<p>After joining the Foreign Service, Stanton served early career foreign postings as a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, from 1987 to 1990 and at the embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, from 1991 to 1993. Continuing her work in the consular field, Stanton served as a consular officer in the Visa Office in the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department in Washington, D.C. from 1993 to 1995.</p>

<p>Back on the road, she served as a personnel officer at the embassy in Beijing, from 1995 to 1998, and after taking time to earn her M.S.S. at the National War College in 2000, she was an assignments officer in the Bureau of Human Resources in 2001.</p>

<p>Stanton was the supervisory post management officer in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2001 to 2004, and a management counselor at the embassy in Singapore from 2004 to 2008. </p>

<p>From 2008 to 2009, Stanton was the deputy executive director in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, rising to executive director in 2009.</p>

<p>Karen Clark Stanton is married to William Stanton, a retired Foreign Service officer who served as director of the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan from 2009 to 2012. They have two daughters, Katherine and Elizabeth.</p>

<p>Karen Clark Stanton (born 1955) is a diplomat and former United States Ambassador to East Timor. Stanton was nominated by President Barack Obama July 31, 2013 and confirmed by the Senate November 19, 2014.</p>

<p>Stanton is from Michigan, the daughter of Clifford Clark and Lillian Clark née Gibbons. Stanton earned a B.A. at the University of Michigan. She later earned an M.S.S. at the National War College in 2000, where her thesis addressed "Controlling Weapons of Mere Destruction."</p>

<p>After Stanton joined the Foreign Service, she held early positions that included working at the State Department's Operations Center as a Watch Officer, and she was a Special Assistant to Secretary of State George P. Shultz. She served as a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, from 1987 to 1990, experiencing the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. From 1991 to 1993 she served at the embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. She then returned to the U.S. for a two-year assignment as a consular officer in the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department in Washington, D.C. Stanton then returned to the embassy in Beijing, where she served from 1995 to 1998.</p>

<p>Stanton then attended the National War College, where she received an M.S.S. in 2000.</p>

<p>Stanton then became an assignments officer in the Bureau of Human Resources, and served as a management counselor at the embassy in Singapore from 2004 to 2008. She then joined the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.</p>

<p>In July 2013, when Stanton was executive director of the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, she was nominated to be ambassador to Timor-Leste, but due to a backlog of appointments was not confirmed by the Senate for 401 days. While the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations had earlier approved her nomination, Senate filibusters delayed confirmations of many nominees, including Stanton, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) threatened to delay all executive nominations until more witnesses testified about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. She was finally confirmed in November 2014.</p>

<p>Once she arrived in Timor-Leste, Stanton presented her credentials to President Taur Matan Ruak on January 16, 2015.</p>

<p>Stanton is married to William Stanton, a retired Foreign Service officer, who served as Director of the Center for Asia Policy at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan and now as vice-president of National Yan Min University. They have two daughters.</p>

<p>Karen Clark Stanton (1955–)<br>
Career Foreign Service Officer<br>
State of Residence: Michigan</p>

<p>Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Timor-Leste)<br>
Appointed: November 18, 2014<br>
Presentation of Credentials: January 16, 2015<br>
Termination of Mission: December 22, 2017</p>