Richard Norland

Richard Boyce Norland (born 1955) is an American diplomat. He served as the United States Ambassador to Libya from August 2019 to September 2022.

Career Ambassador Richard Norland previously served as the Foreign Policy Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford. Prior to that he served as U.S. Ambassador to Georgia (2012–2015), Deputy Commandant/International Affairs Advisor at the National War College (2010–2012), U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan (2007–2010), and Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan (2005–2007) and Riga, Latvia (2003–2005).

From October 2002 through January 2003, Richard Norland served in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan as a diplomat with the U.S. Army Civil Affairs team promoting political and economic reconstruction.

Richard Norland served from 1988 to 1990 as Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, USSR during President Gorbachev's tenure and the period of glasnost and perestroika. He was subsequently detailed to the Pentagon's Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he worked on policy issues following the break-up of the Soviet Union. He served in 1993 as the U.S. representative and acting mission head on the CSCE Mission to Georgia, addressing conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and later visited Chechnya in a similar capacity. On August 1, 2019, the Senate confirmed his nomination by voice vote. He assumed office on August 8, 2019.

Personal life The son of an American diplomat, Ambassador Norland was born in Morocco and grew up in Africa and Europe as well as the United States. Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 1980, Ambassador Norland worked as a legislative analyst in the Iowa House of Representatives. He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1977. He has master's degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and the National War College. He speaks Russian, French and Norwegian. He and his wife, Mary Hartnett, have two children.