Appointments

President Obama recess-appointed James M. Cole as deputy attorney general in the Justice Department. Cole had been a partner with Bryan Cave LLP since 1995, where he specialized in corporate compliance, securities, regulatory and criminal law issues. Before joining private practice in 1992, Cole spent 13 years with the Justice Department, serving for a time as deputy chief of the criminal division’s public integrity section. He also served on President Clinton’s transition team.

Norman L. Eisen has been recess-appointed by the president as the ambassador to the Czech Republic. He has served as special assistant to the president and special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform. He also was deputy general counsel for President Obama’s transition team. Previously, he was a litigation partner at the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder and is the co-founder of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

{mosads}The president also recess-appointed Francis J. Ricciardone Jr. as ambassador to the Republic of Turkey. He most recently was deputy ambassador and chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. Until 2008, he was the ambassador to Egypt, and also was the ambassador to the Philippines and concurrently to Palau. He also was Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s special representative for the transition of Iraq from 1999 to 2001. 

Robert Stephen Ford has been recess-appointed by the president to be ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Ford previously worked for the State Department’s inspector general’s office. He also served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, and as ambassador to Algeria.

Matthew J. Bryza has been recess-appointed by the president to be ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan. He has been serving as the deputy assistant secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs and is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He previously was director for Europe and Eurasia on the National Security Council.