James F. Moriarty is a United States diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

 and career foreign service officer

United States Foreign Service

The United States Foreign Service is a component of the United States federal government under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of approximately 11,500 professionals carrying out the foreign policy of the United States and aiding U.S...

 with the rank of Minister-Counselor. As of 2008 he is the current U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh

United States Ambassador to Bangladesh

The United States Ambassador to Bangladesh is the official representative of the President of the United States to the head of state of Bangladesh....

. His appointment was confirmed as by the Senate on March 14, 2008 and he was sworn in on March 26, 2008.

Prior to this assignment, Mr. Moriarty served as U.S. Ambassador to Nepal between 2004 and 2007. Before moving to Nepal, Ambassador Moriarty served in 2002–2004 as Special Assistant to the President of the United States of America and Senior Director at the National Security Council

United States National Security Council

The White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...

. He was responsible for advising on and coordinating U.S. policy on East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific region. Ambassador Moriarty also worked in the White House in 2001–2002 as National Security Council Director for China Affairs.

In 1998–2001, Ambassador Moriarty served as Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. In 1994–1998, he led the General Affairs (Political) Section at the American Institute in Taiwan

American Institute in Taiwan

The American Institute in Taiwan is a non-profit, public corporation established under the auspices of the United States government to serve its interests in Taiwan...

. Ambassador Moriarty shaped the U.S. response to Chinese missile tests in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, and the ramming of a U.S. EP-3 plane off China’s Hainan Island

Hainan Island incident

On April 1, 2001, a mid-air collision between a United States Navy EP-3E ARIES II signals intelligence aircraft and a People's Liberation Army Navy J-8II interceptor fighter jet resulted in an international dispute between the United States and the People's Republic of China called the Hainan...

. In these jobs and at the National Security Council, Ambassador Moriarty helped lay the groundwork for U.S.-China policy for the 21st century.

As Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of United Nations (UN) Political Affairs in 1991–93, Ambassador Moriarty coordinated U.S. policy on UN Security Council issues. He received the American Foreign Service Association

American Foreign Service Association

The American Foreign Service Association is the professional association certified by the United States Department of State, the Commercial Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development to represent members of the United States Foreign Service. AFSA's history...

’s Rivkin Award for his principled approach to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Ambassador Moriarty was Diplomat-in-Resident at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1993–94. Earlier assignments in his career included postings at the U.S. Embassies in Pakistan, Swaziland, and Morocco, additional tours in Beijing and Taipei, and work on African issues at the U.S. Department of State. He joined the Foreign Service in 1975.

Ambassador Moriarty earned his Bachelor of Arts in History, summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

. He speaks Chinese, Nepali, Urdu, French and Bangla. Ambassador Moriarty is married to Lauren Moriarty, also a career diplomat, and is father to a son and a daughter. Among his numerous awards are individual State Department Superior Honor Awards for his work in China (2000) and on Yugoslavia (1993) and two Group Superior Honor Awards. For his reporting and analysis in Pakistan, Ambassador Moriarty won the Director General’s 1987 Award as the State Department’s best reporting officer. He received a Presidential Pay Award in 2005 and, on numerous occasions, State Department Performance Pay.