Robert Stephen "Steve" Beecroft (born 1957) is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as

United States Ambassador to Egypt This is a list of ambassadors (or other diplomatic representatives) of the United States to Egypt. The United States first established diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1848, when President James K. Polk appointed Daniel Smith McCauley as the ...

from December 2014 to June 2017. He previously served as

United States Ambassador to Iraq This is a list of United States ambassadors, or lower-ranking heads of a diplomatic mission to Iraq. * Alexander K. Sloan (1931), chargé d'affaires * Paul Knabenshue (1932–1942), minister * Thomas M. Wilson (1942), minister * Loy W. Henderson ...

and

United States Ambassador to Jordan The following is a list of chiefs of mission from the United States to Jordan. The first chief of mission, Gerald A. Drew held the title of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. The second chief of mission, Joseph C. Green, was appo ...

Education

Beecroft earned a B.A. from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

and a J.D. from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

.Joseph Walker
Pres. Barack Obama appoints LDS diplomat Robert Stephen Beecroft as ambassador to Iraq
''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...

'', September 15, 2012Page Johnson
Ambassador Stephen Beecroft receives human rights award
''

Church News The ''Church News'' (formerly ''LDS Church News'') is a multi-platform supplement and subdivision of the ''Deseret News'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (informally, the LDS Church). ...

'', April 27, 2011. A member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, he was a

Mormon missionary Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—often referred to as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

Career

After graduating from law school, Beecroft practiced law in the

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

office of an international law firm. He joined 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 ...

in 1994. He carried out an assignment in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

as Executive Assistant to two Secretaries of State

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...

and

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

, and Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State. He also held assignments in the Department of State's Executive Secretariat and its

Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs The Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), also known as the Bureau of Near East Asian Affairs, is an agency of the Department of State within the United States government that deals with U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic relations with the nati ...

. Overseas he has served at the U.S. embassies in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

, and

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. He served as Ambassador to the

Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

from August 2008 until June 2011. He joined the U.S. embassy in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

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 ...

, as Deputy Chief of Mission on July 14, 2011. He became

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'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aq ...

upon the departure of Ambassador

James Franklin Jeffrey James Franklin Jeffrey (born February 8, 1946) is an American diplomat who served most recently as the United States Special Representative for Syria Engagement and the Special Envoy to the International military intervention against ISIL. He ha ...

on June 1, 2012. On September 11, 2012, the

White House Press Office The White House press secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the executive branch of the United States federal government, especially with regard to the president, senior aides and ...

announced that President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

had nominated Beecroft to the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

to succeed Jeffrey as the United States Ambassador to Iraq in the wake of the withdrawal of the nomination of

Brett McGurk Brett Holden McGurk (born April 20, 1973) is an American diplomat, attorney, and academic who served in senior national security positions under presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. He served as deputy assistant t ...

. He was confirmed by the Senate on September 22 and sworn in on October 9, 2012. He is a recipient of the Department of State's Meritorious, Superior, and Distinguished Honor Awards and in April 2011 received the Diplomacy in Human Rights award.

U.S. Ambassador to Egypt

Beecroft's nomination came shortly after the

2013 Egyptian coup d'état The 2013 Egyptian coup d'etat or the Counter-revolutionary, Counter-revolution is an event that took place on 3 July 2013. Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a coalition to remove the democratically elected President of Egypt ...

. At the time, U.S. officials had repeatedly criticized the army-backed interim Egyptian government in dealing violently with opponents, especially those associated with the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

- banned after the military coup - and for allowing the courts to issue death sentences on hundreds of opponents. It was expected that the Obama administration would nominate Robert Ford, who was a senior U.S. diplomat in the Syrian crisis to the post of ambassador in Cairo, but U.S. officials said that the Egyptian government had indicated that they saw Ford as close to Islamic parties in the Middle East. In late-April 2014, the United States decided to lift the partial ban imposed on the military aid to Egypt - after the military coup - and

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

delivered ten Apache helicopters to Egypt, and that followed the Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy visit to Washington. On the same day Beecroft was nominated (May 9, 2014), the former Israeli Prime Minister

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...

called on the United States to support the presidential candidate

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...

in Egypt, the Field Marshal leader of the coup d'état, during the elections and not to criticize him openly, and to postpone any differences with him until after he took office. Barak said in the 2014 speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy that "The United States must sometimes waive defending the values of freedom and democracy to protect its interests." He added that he felt happy after the intervention of the army and the arrest of deposed President

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

freed from prison. The U.S. Senate confirmed Beecroft to the post on June 26, 2014.

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Beecroft, R. Stephen 1957 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt Ambassadors of the United States to Iraq Ambassadors of the United States to Jordan Latter Day Saints from California American lawyers American Mormon missionaries in Venezuela Brigham Young University alumni UC Berkeley School of Law alumni 20th-century Mormon missionaries United States Foreign Service personnel