Jon Gundersen (born 1945) is an American diplomat. Gundersen served as the Chargé d'Affaires ad interim

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Biography

He served as an officer in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

. He was a member of the first US counter-terrorism "Sky Marshall" operations in the early 1970s and has worked as a Merchant Sailor. Gundersen served in numerous assignments both in US and overseas, concentrating on the Nordic Region, arms control and political-military issues. He served as Chargé d'Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission in a number of nations, including

(1992),

(1994-1995),

and

. He opened the first U. S. mission in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

in 1992 and has been assigned to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

, and as Political Advisor to the Special Operations Command and Senior Advisor for

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i Reconstruction. He is the Chair of Advanced Nordic Area Studies at the

Foreign Service Institute The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States federal government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreig ...

. He also teaches at the Joint Special Operations University and works for the State Department declassifying sensitive documents. In the 2020 presidential election, Gundersen supported the

Republican Voters Against Trump Republican Accountability Project (RAP), formerly Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), is a political initiative launched in May 2020 by Defending Democracy Together for the 2020 U.S. presidential election cycle. The project was formed to pro ...

campaign for Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

References

External links

Embassy of the United States in Kyiv

Department History. Jon Gundersen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gundersen, Jon Living people 1945 births Ambassadors of the United States to Ukraine Ambassadors of the United States to Estonia 20th-century American diplomats