David Allen Schlaefer is an American career

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and author. He is a member of the

Senior Foreign Service The Senior Foreign Service (SFS) comprises the top four ranks of the United States Foreign Service. These ranks were created by the Foreign Service Act of 1980 and Executive Order 12293 in order to provide the Foreign Service with senior grades ...

in the

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...

and the current

Charge d’Affaires Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * Charge (David Ford album), ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * Charge (Machel Montano album), ''Charge'' (Ma ...

at the U.S. Mission in Hong Kong. Schlaefer has served on previous diplomatic missions to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Schlaefer is also an author of a series of books based on

Finnish mythology Finnish mythology commonly refers of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a Finnish Neopaganism, modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many shared features with Estonian mythology, Estonian and othe ...

Early life and career

Schlaefer was born in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley where his family worked in the citrus industry. He received his education from

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

and the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. Schlaefer later taught at the Hong Kong Baptist College (now the Hong Kong Baptist University) during the mid-90s. From 2009 to 2010, Schlaefer served in a

Provincial Reconstruction Team A Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) was a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRT ...

with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team in southern Iraq. He was awarded the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service for his services. In 2011, Schlaefer was appointed Director for Political-Military Affairs at the

U.S. Embassy in Tokyo The Embassy of the United States of America in Tokyo (駐日アメリカ合衆国大使館 ''Chū Nichi Amerikagasshūkoku Taishikan'') is the embassy of the United States in Tokyo, Japan. Along with consulates in Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuo ...

and was part of the negotiating team for the revision of the US-Japan Defense Guideline. Schlaefer later served as the Deputy Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism in Washington. Schlaefer was then appointed as the Senior Assistance Coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. He later helped to reopen the embassy in June 2022 during

Russia's invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

and reestablished its operations as the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission. Schlaefer was later posted as the Deputy Counsel General at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong, and is now the Charge D’Affaires upon the previous Counsel General Gregory May's reassignment to Beijing. He is expected to hold this role until the new Counsel General is appointed.

Personal life

Schlaefer is married to his wife, a professional interpreter and translator, and has two children. They all currently reside in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Schlaefer has also written of a series of books based on

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlaefer, David People from Texas Living people American diplomats