Earle D. Litzenberger

Earle D. Litzenberger
Earle D. Litzenberger
	Litzenberger in 2019
United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan
	In office; March 12, 2019 – July 26, 2022
President	Donald Trump; Joe Biden
Preceded by	Robert Cekuta
Succeeded by	Mark W. Libby
Personal details
Children	2
Education	Middlebury College (BA); United States Army War College (MS)

Earle D. "Lee" Litzenberger is an American diplomat who served as the United States ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as Senior Advisor and Senior Bureau Official in the Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.

Career

Litzenberger started his career as a Management Analyst at Defense Logistics Agency and as a Field Interviewer and Tester for the University of Chicago based in Stuttgart, Germany. From 1984 to 1986 he served as Political Officer in the U.S. Embassy in Algeria. He went on to serve as Consular Officer in the U.S. Consulate General in Marseille, France. He has also served in various positions within the Department of State such as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to NATO, U.S. Embassy in Serbia, and the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan.^[1]

Ambassador to Azerbaijan

On September 4, 2018, President Trump nominated Litzenberger as United States Ambassador to Azerbaijan.^[2] On October, 4, 2018, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on his nomination. On January 2, 2019, the United States Senate confirmed his nomination by voice vote.^[3] On March 12, 2019, Litzenberger presented his credentials to the Azerbaijan government.^[4]

In 2020 he returned to Washington D.C. to support human rights lawyer Shahla Humbatova as she received her award as an International Women of Courage Award.^[5] She was the first person from Azerbaijan to win the award.