David Bruce Shear (born May 25, 1954) is an American diplomat who was a career

Foreign Service Officer A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U ...

.David Bruce Shear (1954–)
/ref> Shear served as the

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, or ASD (IPSA), is the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (USD(P)) and the Secretary of Defense on international security strategy and policy on issue ...

from July 2014 to June 2016. Prior to his nomination for this position, he served as

United States Ambassador to Vietnam The United States ambassador to Vietnam (Vietnamese: ''Đại sứ Hoa Kỳ tại Việt Nam'') is the chief American diplomat to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. After the First Indochina War and the defeat of the French domination over Vietnam ...

. He was also formerly deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

; he joined the State Department in 1982 and has served in Washington,

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Born in Cobleskill, New York, Shear attended

Clayton A. Bouton High School Clayton A. Bouton High School is a public high school located in Voorheesville, Albany County, New York, U.S.A., and is the only high school operated by the Voorheesville Central School District. Athletics at Voorheesville high school include bo ...

, graduating in 1971. He is a graduate of Earlham College with a B.A. degree in 1975. Shear also has a M.A. degree in

international affairs International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 1982, and was a Rusk Fellow at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. He served as

from 2011 until leaving office in 2014.

Personal life

Shear is a black belt in

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...

. He and his wife Barbara have a daughter. He speaks Chinese and Japanese.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shear, David Bruce 1954 births Living people People from Cobleskill, New York Earlham College alumni Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies alumni United States Foreign Service personnel Georgetown University alumni Ambassadors of the United States to Vietnam United States Assistant Secretaries of Defense American kendoka