Lewis Alan Lukens is a retired American diplomat who served as the
U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...
. His final assignment was as
Deputy Chief of Mission of the
U.S. Embassy in London.
Early life and education
Lukens was born on December 25, 1963, in Paris, France. His father,
Alan Wood Lukens
Alan Wood Lukens (February 12, 1924 – January 5, 2019) was an American diplomat who served as the ambassador to People's Republic of the Congo from 1984 to 1987 and held other diplomatic posts throughout Africa. He died in January 2019 at the a ...
, was
US Chargé d'Affaires ad interim to the Republic of the Congo.
[
Lukens attended ]Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, where he was awarded an AB degree in history. He received a master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...
.
Career
Lukens joined the United States Foreign Service
The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carry ...
in July 1989, serving in Southern China, Ivory Coast, Australia, Ireland, Iraq, Canada, Senegal, and the United Kingdom.
From 2008 to 2011, Lukens was executive director of the U.S. Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other ...
’s Executive Secretariat, directing management support and overseas travel for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
. Lukens testified under oath in a legal case related to the Hillary Clinton email controversy
During her tenure as United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton drew controversy by using a private email server for official public communications rather than using official State Department email accounts maintained on federal servers ...
.
From 2011 to 2014, Lukens was U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...
.
From August 2016 to January 2019, Lukens served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in London. On June 5, 2017, while serving as Acting Ambassador, Lukens tweeted his support for London mayor Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...
, after President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
had sent a tweet critical of Khan following a terrorist incident
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
.[Diplomats quiet revolt against Trump]
NYTimes, Retrieved June 6, 2017
In February 2018, Lukens advised his superior, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom
The United States ambassador to the United Kingdom (known formally as the ambassador of the United States to the Court of St James's) is the official representative of the president of the United States and the American government to the monarc ...
Robert Wood Johnson IV
Robert Wood Johnson IV (born April 12, 1947) is an American businessman who was United States ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021. He is a great-grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, and a billionaire heir to the Johnson & Johnson ph ...
, not to follow through on President Trump's request to try to get the British government to steer the British Open
The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
golf tournament to the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland; Lukens warned that it would be an unethical
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
use of the presidency for private gain. However, Johnson reportedly did make the attempt in an overture to the Secretary of State for Scotland.
In a pair of speeches to English universities in October 2018, Lukens used an anecdote about President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
’s 2013 visit to Senegal to illustrate how allies can handle disagreements. Because of the complimentary reference to Obama Ambassador Johnson referred to Lukens as a "traitor". Lukens alleged that Johnson had tried to used his position as ambassador to persuade the British government to move the lucrative British Open
The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
golf tournament to Trump's Turnberry golf resort. Johnson forced Lukens out of his tenure as Deputy Chief of Mission in January 2019, seven months before he was scheduled to leave for his next assignment, effectively ending his diplomatic career.
After the end of his tenure as diplomat, Lukens criticized the Trump administration for his handling of the State Department, and for what he felt was a decline in the United States' international influence. In a January 2021 interview with ''Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'', Lukens' stated that he felt "The last four years has put in doubt the U.S.'s reliability as a partner," and that Trump's administration had damaged both the relationship between the US and the UK, and the United States' international reputation.
References
Further reading
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External links
Lewis A. Lukens (1963–)
Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lukens, Lewis
1963 births
Living people
Princeton University alumni
21st-century American diplomats
Ambassadors of the United States to Guinea-Bissau
Ambassadors of the United States to Senegal
Ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom
United States Foreign Service personnel