Wells, Alice G., 1963-

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Alice G. Wells (born 1963) is an American diplomat. She notably served as U.S. Ambassador of the United States of America to Jordan (2014-2017).

Wells was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Heidi and Wes Wells. Her father was at the time a U.S. Army officer stationed there as part of President Eisenhower's 1958 Middle East Task Force. After attending Bainbridge Island High School, she earned a BA from Stanford University in 1985 and a joint MA from the University of California at Los Angeles/Rand Corporation.

Wells is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service. Wells served as a political officer and a political-military officer at the US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as well as a political and economic officer at the US embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. She was acting director of Egypt and North African Affairs in the bureau of Near Eastern affairs from 2003 to 2005. She served as minister counsellor for political affairs at the US embassy in Moscow from 2006 to 2009 and was director of Maghreb affairs. Wells also served as executive assistant to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from 2011 to 2012, and to Undersecretary for Political Affairs William J. Burns from 2009 to 2011. She served as an assessor at the foreign service board of examiners in 2013 and was special assistant to the president for Russia and Central Asia in the White House from 2012 to 2013.

When nominated to become the U.S. Ambassador to Jordan, she was serving as senior adviser in the bureau of Near Eastern affairs at the Department of State. She began her assignment as ambassador on July 28, 2014. In January 2016 Wells announced at a press briefing in Amman that the US Congress has approved “an unprecedented” $1.275 billion in assistance to Jordan in its 2016 budget bill. The amount includes economic aid, security assistance and assistance with the country's water supply. Wells noted that the aid was approved with bi-partisan support of Republicans and Democrats. President Donald Trump removed her as Ambassador, at the request of King Abdullah II.

She was then appointed Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs. She assumed this role on June 26, 2017. She was named Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs on November 12, 2019. She left that role on June 1, 2020.

Wells speaks English and Russian fluently and has studied Arabic, Urdu and Hindi. She is married to Kurt E. Amend. Together, they have three children.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Records of the National Park Service, 1785 - 2006. Legislative Files, ca. 2010 - 1/3/2016 National Archives Library, National Archives Records Administration
Relation Name
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Stanford university corporateBody
employeeOf United States. Department of State corporateBody
employeeOf United States. Foreign Service corporateBody
alumnusOrAlumnaOf University of California, Los Angeles corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Islamabad 08 PK
Beirut 04 LB
Delhi 07 IN
Amman 16 JO
District of Columbia DC US
Riyadh 10 SA
Subject
Occupation
Ambassadors
Diplomats
Foreign service officers
Activity

Person

Birth 1963

Female

Americans

Arabic,

English,

Urdu,

Hindi,

Russian

Information

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