Chief of Mission

Biography

COM Michael E. Parmly

Michael E. Parmly is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of Minister-Counselor.  He is currently the Chief of Mission-Designate for the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.  Mr. Parmly recently completed a posting on the faculty of the National War College, holding the position of Professor of National Security Studies and specializing in post-conflict situations.  From August to October, 2004, Mr. Parmly served as Senior Advisor to Ambassador Khalilzad for the Afghan Presidential elections.  From February to May 2003, Mr. Parmly served as the State Department representative in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  Mr. Parmly went to Afghanistan from a 2 ½ year tour as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), a position he occupied from April 2000 forward.  Between January and June 2001, Mr. Parmly served as Acting Assistant Secretary.
 
  Mr. Parmly has been a Foreign Service Officer since 1977.  He arrived at his DRL posting after a tour of duty as Political Minister at American Embassy Paris (1997-2000).  Earlier, Mr. Parmly has served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires, a.i. at the Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where he oversaw the build-up of the post-Dayton American diplomatic presence in that country.  Mr. Parmly received the Department’s Superior Honor Award for his work there.  He had earlier served as Political Counselor at the US Mission to the European Union (1989-1993) and as Political Counselor in Bucharest, Romania (1987-1989).  Before that, he served in Morocco and Spain.  In Washington, Mr. Parmly has been an Office Director in the European Bureau, and was a Watch Officer and Analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
 
  Prior to joining the State Department, Mr. Parmly was a Peace Corps volunteer from 1973 to 1975 in Bucaramanga, Colombia, working in the field of youth development.  He received his Masters of Arts of Law and Diplomacy (MALD) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1977, after completing an undergraduate degree in International Relations and Latin American Studies (honor graduate) at St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia.  He is bilingual in French and Spanish, and fluent in Romanian.
 
  Mr. Parmly, who comes from St. Augustine, Florida, is married to Marie-Catherine nee Schutte, of Geneva, Switzerland.  They have two children, Berengere Marie (26) and Christopher Wells (17).

September 2005.