Jonathan Cohen has been the deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs covering Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey since August 2016.
He previously served in Baghdad as deputy chief of mission from 2014 to 2016 and in Paris as the acting deputy chief of mission from 2013 to 2014 and as the minister counselor for political affairs from 2011 to 2013. From 2008 to 2011 he served as deputy chief of mission in Nicosia, Cyprus. From 2004 to 2008, he was counselor for political-military affairs in Rome.
A foreign service officer since 1986, other previous assignments include: Ankara as political adviser to Operation Northern Watch, and Embassy Iraq specialist (2000-04); political adviser to the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance-North, Irbil, and member of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Governance Team, Baghdad (April-July 2003); Stockholm as political officer (1996-2000); Vienna as liaison to the Hungarian Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and executive assistant to the head of the OSCE Bosnia Mission (1995- 96); State Department (Washington, DC) as OSCE desk officer/NATO Bosnia officer (1993-95), and on Secretariat Staff/Advance Teams for Secretaries of State Baker, Eagleburger, and Christopher (1991-93); Jerusalem as USAID coordinator and economic officer for the West Bank (1989-91); and Bangkok as consular/refugee affairs officer (1987-89).
He graduated with a degree in politics and a certificate in Near Eastern studies from Princeton in 1985, spent 1985 to 1986 at Hebrew University in Jerusalem on an Israeli Government Grant, and attended Georgetown’s Masters of Science in Foreign Service Program in 1986. His hometown is Laguna Beach, California.
