Contact: FAS Public Affairs, (202) 720-7115

Nine New Agricultural Officers Sworn Into Foreign Service

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2017 – Nine employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) were sworn in as Foreign Service officers today during a ceremony at USDA headquarters in Washington. The new officers will begin their Foreign Service careers serving as agricultural attachés at U.S. embassies and diplomatic missions across the globe.

“As the eyes, ears and voice for U.S. farmers and ranchers globally, our attaché corps serves a vital role in carrying out the FAS mission. Knowing the dedication of these new Foreign Service officers, I’m confident they will make significant contributions during their careers to advancing and serving U.S. agricultural priorities overseas,” said FAS Acting Administrator Holly Higgins. “Becoming a Foreign Service officer is a competitive and rigorous process and these nine individuals have successfully demonstrated that they have the talent, skills and determination to represent the interests of American agriculture throughout the world.”

Agricultural attachés monitor and report on global agricultural production and trade matters, identify export opportunities, facilitate trade, work to enhance food security, and support U.S. foreign policy objectives. The nine new attachés are among approximately 138 Foreign Service officers who are posted to 93 FAS offices around the world, covering 171 countries.

The new FAS Foreign Service officers sworn in today are:

• Lisa Ahramjian, from Wilmington, Del., assigned to the FAS Office of Agricultural Affairs (OAA) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic;
• Daniel Archibald, from Clifton Forge, Va., assigned to the OAA in Accra, Ghana;
• Christopher Bielecki, from Clarence Center, N.Y., assigned to the FAS Agricultural Trade Office in Beijing;
• Alexander Blamberg, from Brooklyn, N.Y., assigned to the OAA in Tokyo;
• Kyle Bonsu, from Philadelphia, assigned to the OAA in Pretoria, South Africa;
• Megan Davidow, from Queens, N.Y., assigned to the OAA in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam;
• Jennifer Lappin, from Dracut, Mass., assigned to the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels;
• Garrett McDonald, from Austin, Texas, assigned to the OAA in Jakarta, Indonesia; and
• Jasmine Osinski, from Vienna, Va., assigned to the OAA in Dakar, Senegal.

More information about FAS and its work to advance U.S. agricultural interests around the globe is available at http://www.fas.usda.gov.

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