United States president Barack Obama has named James Warlick to be the next US ambassador in Sofia, the White House said on October 2 2009.

Warlick, a senior member of the foreign service, is the principal deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO) since April 2006, with responsibility for US foreign policy at the United Nations and a number of other multilateral organisations.

Prior to that, Warlick was director of the office of European security and political affairs, responsible for political-military and security issues for Europe and the former Soviet Union, including Nato, OSCE, and related arms control and nonproliferation policy issues (2005-2006).

While director of the United Nations Political Affairs in IO during 2003-2005, Warlick also served as principal adviser to Paul Bremer from January 2004 to July 2004 in Baghdad, Iraq.

Other assignments have included: consul general, US embassy, Moscow; director, for Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the European affairs bureau; acting minister-counsellor/ deputy counsellor for political affairs, US embassy, Germany; special assistant to the secretary of state; operations centre watch officer; consular officer, Philippines; and political officer, Bangladesh.

Prior to his state department service, Warlick was deputy representative of the Asia Foundation in Washington, DC and the Philippines; and he was a foreign affairs analyst in the congressional research service at the library of congress.

Warlick is a graduate of Stanford University, holds a Master of Letters in Politics from Wadham College, Oxford University, and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.