Jerry P. Lanier was confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to Uganda on August 4, 2009. In an October 19, 2009, cable released by WikiLeaks, Lanier praised Uganda’s progress, but warned that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s “autocratic tendencies, as well as Uganda's pervasive corruption, sharpening ethnic divisions, and explosive population growth are eroding Uganda's status as an African success story."

 

Raised in North Carolina, he earned his B.A. at Pembroke State University, and his M.A. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then worked for three years as a lecturer in the History Department at the University of North Carolina.

 

Lanier joined the U.S. Department of State in 1983, where he served as Deputy Director for the Office of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh Affairs; Deputy Director for the Office of West African Affairs; Legislative Management Officer for Africa; Country Officer for the South Korea; and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs.

 

Lanier took additional State Department positions including deputy chief of mission in Ghana, as well as posts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Thailand, Kenya, and the Philippines. He subsequently became the Director of the Office of Regional and Security Affairs in the State Department’s Africa Bureau.

 

Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to Uganda, Lanier was Foreign Policy Advisor for the United States Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany.

 

Lanier has four children: Peter, Clare, and Jordan Lanier, and Juliane Hollingsworth.