Embassies to get new ambassadors

A few of the most critical U.S. embassies in the world, including those in Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey and Yemen, are slated to get new ambassadors this summer. 

The diplomatic shuffle is likely to be felt most intensely in Baghdad, where the top two U.S. civilian officials — Ambassador Chris Hill and Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Ford, nominated to be ambassador to Syria — will cycle out, along with the top U.S. military commander, Gen. Raymond Odierno, who reportedly also is planning to leave. 

Jim Jeffrey, currently ambassador to Turkey, will succeed Hill, current and former U.S. officials told POLITICO. A career Foreign Service officer, Jeffrey served as a deputy national security adviser during President George W. Bush’s second term and will take up his assignment at the U.S.’s largest embassy as the drawdown of combat forces continues to an estimated 50,000 by September from 90,000 currently. 

Joining Jeffrey as deputy chief of mission in Baghdad will be Stuart Jones, currently the deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe, managing the Balkans. 

Another highly regarded U.S. diplomat, Deputy Chief of Mission to Afghanistan Francis Ricciardone, will be nominated to succeed Jeffrey as ambassador to Turkey, current and former officials told POLITICO. 

Karl Eikenberry, who arrives in Washington Monday with the delegation of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, is expected to stay on as ambassador in Kabul. But the current ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, is expected to get a new assignment, and Cameron Hume, ambassador to Indonesia, is expected to succeed her, POLITICO has learned. 

Meanwhile, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Gerald Michael Feierstein, has been tapped to be the next ambassador to Yemen, where the Obama administration plans to spend $150 million in security assistance this year alone trying to help the Sanaa government battle Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.