Christopher W. Murray was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo on August 5, 2010, and reported for duty in Brazzaville on September 16.

 

The son of David and Lee Murray of Syracuse, New York, Murray graduated from Nottingham High School in 1971, earned his B.A. in Government from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1975, and his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1980.

 

He first served as a Political Officer in the Office of NATO Affairs, and as country Officer for Somalia. At the U.S. Department of State, Murray oversaw Middle Eastern matters in the Office for U.N. Political Affairs, and held the positions of Director of the office of policy coordination, public affairs and congressional relations in the Office of Nonproliferation and Deputy Director for European Regional Affairs. He also participated in the State Department’s Arabic language program in Tunis, Tunisia.

 

Additional oversees posts held by Murray include Political Officer at the U.S. Mission to the European Communities in Brussels, Belgium; Economic Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Consular Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica.

 

From 1998 to 2000, Murray served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria. He was also Chief of the Political Section at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria (1999-2003). From 2004 to 2007, he held the post of Deputy Chief of Mission in Beirut, Lebanon. In that capacity, he oversaw the evacuation of 15,000 Americans during the summer 2006 war in Lebanon.

 

Between 2007 and 2010, Murray served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels.

 

Murray is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Middle East Institute. He has a son, David, and a daughter, Sara.