Deputy Chief of Mission

Robert J. Silverman

Robert Silverman joined the US Embassy in Stockholm as the deputy chief of mission, or deputy to the ambassador, in August 2007. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Mr. Silverman has worked for most of his career in the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. He served in Saudi Arabia from 2006-2007 as the Economic Counselor in Riyadh. From 2004-2006, he was the Director of the State Department's Office of Iraq Economic and Reconstruction Affairs in Washington. In 2003-2004, he was the senior civilian official of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Tikrit, Iraq. His other overseas assignments include the US Embassy in Ankara, where he headed the US response to the Turkish financial crisis (2000-2003), the US Embassy in Cairo, where he worked on Egyptian domestic politics and Egypt's role in the Middle East peace process (1997-2000), the US Embassy in Baku, where he worked on oil and economic issues (1992-1994), and the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, where he worked on Palestinian politics and Israeli settlements (1989-1991). Mr. Silverman has received three individual Superior Honor Awards.

Mr. Silverman's foreign languages are Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and Azerbaijani. His translation from Arabic of the book by Egyptian writer Ali Salem, A Drive to Israel, was published in 2002.

Before joining the Foreign Service in 1989, Mr. Silverman practiced corporate and securities law in Los Angeles, California. He graduated with undergraduate and master's degrees from Princeton University in 1980 and 1982, and a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1985. He is married to Young-Mi Silverman and they have three children.