Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister Counselor, was U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 2019 to 2024 and assumed duties as Deputy Commandant of the National War College in July 2024.
Ambassador Murphy led the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2018 to 2019 as Acting Assistant Secretary of State and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Southeast Asia from 2016 to 2018. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’affaires in the Kingdoms of Thailand (2013-2016) and Lesotho (2006-2008).
Since joining the Foreign Service in 1992, he has also completed diplomatic assignments abroad in Burma (Myanmar), China, Guinea, Mali, and Iraq – where he led an interagency Provincial Reconstruction Team in Ninewa. His prior Washington service at the Department of State includes Special Representative for Burma (Acting), Director and Deputy Director of the Office for Mainland Southeast Asia, political advisor for the Haiti Working Group, and desk officer for Burma and Laos.
Ambassador Murphy is the recipient of two Presidential Meritorious Rank awards; the Department of the Army Superior Civilian Service award; and the Department of State Expeditionary Service, Superior Honor, Meritorious Honor, and Senior Performance awards; and was runner-up for the global Human Rights & Democracy Achievement award.
Ambassador Murphy was a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon. He received an M.A. from The Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), an M.S. from the National War College (distinguished graduate), and a B.A. from the University of Vermont. He also studied at the Institut Européen des Hautes Études Internationales in Nice, France.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Murphy was a resource economist for the World Wildlife Fund and a policy analyst for the Overseas Development Council. His foreign languages include French, Burmese, Cantonese, and Spanish. He and his wife Kathleen have a son and two daughters.