Adel al-Jubeir

Adel Al-Jubeir (عادل بن أحمد الجبير; born 1 February 1962) is a Saudi diplomat who is the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

He is the second person not belonging to the House of Saud to hold the office, after Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al Suwaiyel.

He attended schools in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Yemen, Lebanon and the U.S. He obtained a B.A. summa cum laude in political science and economics from the University of North Texas in 1982, and an M.A. in international relations from Georgetown University in 1984.

In 1987, Al-Jubeir was appointed into the Saudi Diplomatic Service and posted to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC, where he served as Special Assistant to then Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

In 1990–91, he was part of the Saudi team that established the Joint Information Bureau at Dhahran, a city in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

It was in 1991 during the first Gulf War when Al-Jubeir first appeared to the world as a spokesman for the Saudi government.

He was a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference in October 1991, and a member of the Saudi delegation to the Multilateral Arms Control Talks in Washington, DC in 1992.

In December 1992, he was dispatched with the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia to Somalia as part of Operation Restore Hope.

Al-Jubeir was a member of the Saudi Arabian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, and was a visiting diplomatic fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, 1994–95.

During his tenure at the Saudi Embassy, Al-Jubeir developed strong ties on Capitol Hill, in the Administration, the media and with major think tanks in Washington.

In 2000, Al-Jubeir became Director of the Saudi Information and Congressional Affairs Office at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC.

In late 2000, he was named Foreign Affairs Advisor in the Crown Prince's Court.

In August 2005, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz appointed Al-Jubeir to the position of Advisor at the Royal Court.

Following the September 11 attacks, Al-Jubeir returned to the United States to address the many questions and criticisms that faced the Kingdom at that time.

Al-Jubeir became the face of Saudi Arabia through hundreds of television appearances as well as other media interviews and visited more than 25 cities across the country where he gave talks to World Affairs Councils, universities, civic organizations, business institutions and other interested groups about current events and the state of Saudi/U.S. relations.

While on diplomatic mission in Budapest, Adel al-Jubeir gave a lecture on Saudi Foreign Policy and Reforms Of Vision 2030.

In 2006, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the University of North Texas.

He was regularly seen with King Abdullah in meetings with world leaders and accompanied King Abdullah on many state visits including Oman, China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia in 2006, Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Egypt in 2007, the G20 London Summit and Doha Arab Summit in 2009 and G20 Toronto Summit in 2010.

He previously served as the Saudi Ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2015, and was also a foreign policy advisor to King Abdullah.

Al-Jubeir was born in Al Majma'ah, Riyadh Province, Saudi Arabia.

On 29 January 2007 Al-Jubeir was appointed as Saudi Ambassador to the United States of America with the rank of Minister.

As ambassador, Al-Jubeir focused on strengthening the bilateral relationship by building ties across government departments in both countries.

Another key area of focus was the welfare of Saudi citizens living in the United States.

Other issues of focus included counter-terrorism, regional peace and security, bilateral trade, cultural exchange and interfaith dialogue.

Prior to becoming ambassador, he was instrumental in establishing and maintaining the U.S.-Saudi Strategic Dialogue, which was initiated by King Abdullah and President Bush as a means to institutionalize relations between the two nations and deepen coordination on strategic, political and economic issues.

As Ambassador Al-Jubeir travelled frequently to the Kingdom for consultations with the King and other senior Saudi officials.

Ambassador Al-Jubeir was part of King Abdullah's delegation on his visit to the Vatican in November 2007, where King Abduallah met with Pope Benedict XVI, the first meeting between a Saudi monarch and a Pope.

In November 2007, Al-Jubeir joined Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal for the meeting of the Arab League Foreign Ministers in Cairo in preparation for the Annapolis Peace Conference.

He was also a member of the Saudi delegation to the Annapolis Peace Conference in November 2007.

During Ambassador Al-Jubeir's tenure, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. signed a series of bilateral agreements in key areas including civil nuclear cooperation, enhanced security arrangements, reciprocal visa policies, health and medical services, science and technology cooperation, among others.

The two countries also established two Joint Task Forces—one to combat terrorists, another to combat terror financing.

Experts from both governments and militaries worked side-by-side, sharing real-time information about terror networks.

In the spring of 2007, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visited the Kingdom with a Congressional delegation, the first visit by a sitting Speaker of the House.

In July 2008, King Abdullah convened an interfaith conference in Madrid, Spain, bringing together major figures from Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism and Confucianism to reinforce the common values shared by their respective faiths.

In addition, the tempo of visits by senior U.S. officials increased substantially during his tenure as ambassador, including two visits by President Bush, multiple visits by Vice President Dick Cheney and visits by President Obama in 2009 and 2014.

Other visits included National Security Advisors James L. Jones and Thomas Donilon; Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry; Secretaries of Treasury Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner; Secretary of Energy Steven Chu; Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel; CENTCOM Commanders Generals David Petraeus, James Mattis and Lloyd J. Austin III; FBI Director Robert Mueller; Homeland Security Advisor John O. Brennan and Special Envoys George J. Mitchell, Dennis Ross, Richard Holbrooke and a large number of sub cabinet officials.

In October 2010, Saudi intelligence provided key information to American officials that foiled an attempted terrorist plot involving parcel bombs heading to the United States that originated in Yemen.

The bombs were found and defused before reaching their intended targets.

According to news reports, a double-agent in Yemen was the source of the tip-off.

Al-Jubeir enhanced the embassy's focus on its ties with the United States Congress through extensive meetings and briefings with members of Congress and staff as well as facilitating visits to the Kingdom.