Biographical Note                                            SG/A/848/Rev.1*

                                                            AFR/662/Rev.1*

                                                            BIO/3507/Rev.1*

                                                            11 July 2003

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS JACQUES KLEIN AS HIS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR LIBERIA

In July 2003, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the selection of Jacques Paul Klein as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Coordinator of United Nations Operations in Liberia with the rank of Under-Secretary-General.

Mr. Klein was a career member of the Senior Foreign Service of the Department of State.  He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois and has done post-graduate work in International Politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.  In recognition of his service to peace, he has also been awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by Elmhurst College.

After entering the Foreign Service in 1971, Mr. Klein served his initial tour of duty in the Operations Center of the Executive Secretariat, Office of the Secretary of State.  He was subsequently posted abroad to serve as Consular Officer at the American Consulate General in Bremen.  In 1973, he was reassigned to the Department of State as a Political Officer in the Office of Southern European Affairs.  He returned overseas in 1975, upon assumption of diplomatic relations with the German Democratic Republic, to serve as Consular Officer in the newly opened American Embassy in Berlin.  In 1977, he was reassigned and served a follow-on tour as a Political Officer at the American Embassy in Bonn.

Mr. Klein was selected to attend the National War College in 1979.  After graduation, he was assigned as a Management Analysis Officer on the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the Director General of the Foreign Service.  He was seconded to the Department of Defense in 1982, to serve as Senior Advisor for International Affairs to the Secretary of the Air Force, with the rank of Deputy Assistant Secretary.  He then returned to the Department of State to become Director of the Office of Strategic Technology Matters in the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs.  In 1989, he was again recalled to the Department of Defense to serve as Assistant Deputy Under-Secretary of the Air Force for International Affairs.

In 1990, Mr. Klein returned to the Department of State to serve as Principal Advisor to the Director General of the Foreign Service, and Director of Personnel for Career Development, Training and Detail Assignments.  He returned abroad in 1993 to serve as Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of the United States European Command in Stuttgart, Germany.  In 1996, United Nations Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali selected him to serve as Transitional Administrator for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium with the rank of Under-Secretary-General. 

In July 1997, the Government of the United States nominated and the Dayton Peace implementation Council’s Steering Board approved the selection of Mr. Klein as Principal Deputy High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Office of the High Representative.  In August 1999, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the selection of Mr. Klein as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Coordinator of United Nations Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the rank of Under-Secretary-General.

Mr. Klein has been awarded the Department of State’s Distinguished Honor Award, as well as three Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards.  He also received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, as well as the Department of the Air Force’s Awards for Exceptional and Meritorious Civilian Service.

He is retired as Major General of the United States Air Force and during his period of service was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, a Bronze Star, and the Air Medal.

He has also been made a Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown by the Kingdom of Belgium; and been awarded the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; the Aeronautical Order of Merit, in the grade of Commander, from the Government of Brazil; the Order of the Lion, in the grade of Commander, by the Government of Senegal; and the Legion d’Honneur, in the grade of Officer, by the Government of France.

Mr. Klein is a member of the Cosmos and the Army and Navy Clubs of Washington, D.C.; the Academie d’Alsace and the Council on Foreign Relations.  He is married to Dr. Margrete Siebert Klein and has two children, Christian and Maia.

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*      Revised to reflect additional, current information.