Susan Sutton began her assignment at the National Defense University in July, 2018. Overseas, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Hanoi, Vietnam; in Sofia, Bulgaria; and in Vientiane, Lao PDR. At the State Department, she served as Director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Deputy Director of the Office of Bilateral Affairs in the Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy and Labor; and Country Officer for Bulgaria and Albania. She also served as Political Counselor in Bangkok, Thailand and political officer in Bucharest, Romania; she was part of the team assigned to open the first U.S. embassy in Chisinau, Moldova. Susan is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. She has a Master’s degree in German Literature from Tufts University, and a Bachelor’s degree in German Studies from Boston University. She speaks German, Romanian, Thai and Vietnamese -- to varying degrees.
Subject expertise: ASEAN; Democracy and Rule of Law; Nationalities and Minorities issues
Regional expertise: Southeast Asia; Southeastern Europe
Email: susan.m.sutton.civ@ndu.edu