Larry Miles Dinger (born 1946) was the U.S.

chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

from 2008 to August 2011. Since the United States did not accredit a formal United States Ambassador to Burma from 1990 to 2012, the chargé d'affaires was the chief of mission and the most senior official in the embassy.

Early life

Larry Dinger grew up in

Riceville, Iowa Riceville is a city in Howard and Mitchell counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 806 at the time of the 2020 census. History Riceville was platted in 1855 by three of the Rice brothers, Leonard, Dennis, and Gilbert. Riceville wa ...

Dinger is a graduate of

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

(BA magna cum laude 1968),

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

(JD cum laude 1975), and the

National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Colle ...

(MA 2000). After graduating from Macalester College in 1968, Dinger entered the Naval Officer Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island, and was commissioned as a Navy "line" officer in April 1969. He first served in Nha Be, Vietnam. His then served in the Fleet Operations Control Center Europe in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, from 1970 to 1972. After the Navy and law school, Dinger worked in politics from 1975–1980, including on the 1976 Udall for President campaign, on U.S. Senator John Culver's Judiciary Committee staff, and as a candidate for State Representative in his home state of Iowa. He practiced law in 1981-82 as a sole practitioner in Riceville, Iowa, before entering the Foreign Service in 1983.

Diplomatic career

In his early career, Dinger served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1995–96), political officer at Embassy

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

(1992–95), Indonesia Desk Officer (1990–92), political officer at Embassy

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

(1987–1990), Staff Assistant in the EAP Bureau (1985–86), and consular/narcotics affairs officer at Embassy

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

(1983–85). Dinger was Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy Suva, Fiji (1996-99); was at the National War College in Washington, D.C. (1999-2000), and was Deputy Chief of Mission at Embassy Kathmandu, Nepal (2000-2001). He was U.S. ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia (2001-2004) during final negotiations of the 2nd Compact of Free Association. From August 2004 to June 2005, he was the State Department's Senior Advisor to the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. His duties included mentoring the Foreign Service officers studying at the Naval War College, teaching a course on "strategy," and serving as liaison on political/military issues between Naval War College personnel and the State Department. Dinger was U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Islands, the Republic of

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

, the Republic of

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Ki ...

, the Kingdom of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, and

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

from July 2005 to July 2008. While serving as Chief of Mission at Embassy Rangoon, Burma, from 2008-2011, Dinger oversaw the beginning of a new diplomatic relationship as Burmese politics began to thaw, including with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. After retirement from the Foreign Service in 2011, Dinger worked from 2012-13 as leader of an inspection team in the State Department Office of the Inspector General. Subsequently, since 2013, he has been the East Asia and Pacific Bureau's Senior Advisor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations each autumn. He also served as acting Ambassador to ASEAN in Jakarta for four months in 2014 and as acting DCM at U.S. Embassy Bangkok for three months in 2016. Larry Dinger and his brother

John R. Dinger John R. Dinger (born May 27, 1952 in Charles City, Iowa), is a career diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. He has held leadership positions in the Department of State as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Researc ...

are the first career Foreign Service Officer siblings to become ambassadors. Larry became ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia in December 2001 when his brother John was ambassador to Mongolia.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinger, Larry Miles Ambassadors of the United States to Myanmar Harvard Law School alumni National War College alumni Macalester College alumni 1946 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to the Federated States of Micronesia Ambassadors of the United States to Fiji Ambassadors of the United States to Nauru Ambassadors of the United States to Kiribati Ambassadors of the United States to Tonga Ambassadors of the United States to Tuvalu People from Riceville, Iowa United States Foreign Service personnel 21st-century American diplomats