Christina B. Rocca
Encyclopedia
Christina B. Rocca was United States
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
from 2001 to 2006.
, Christina B. Rocca was educated at King's College London
, receiving a B.A.
in History
in 1980. She speaks French
, Russian
, Spanish
, and German
.
In 1982, Rocca joined the Central Intelligence Agency
as a staff operations officer. She worked there until January 1997, at which time she became Foreign Affairs Advisor to Sen.
Sam Brownback
(R
—KS), a member of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
. She held this post until May 2001. While working for Brownback, she specialized on South Asia
, as well as Central Asia
, the Caucasus
, and the Middle East
. She authored several pieces of legislation, including the Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999; bills granting permanent normal trade relations status to Kyrgyzstan
and Georgia
; and three amendments allowing the president to waive certain sanctions imposed on India
and Pakistan
.
In 2001, President of the United States
George W. Bush
nominated Rocca as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
and, after Senate confirmation, she held this office from June 1, 2001 to February 17, 2006. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Rocca helped design a new set of US policies towards South Asia
. In the immediate post-9/11 period, she oversaw U.S. diplomacy in the period leading up to the invasion of Afghanistan
. She also oversaw the U.S.'s diplomatic response to the 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff. She was involved in the organized response and humanitarian assistance in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake
.
President Bush then named Rocca as the United States Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament
in Geneva
and Ambassador Rocca held this post from August 2006 until January 2009. There, she represented the U.S. during nuclear disarmament
talks and negotiations related to the Biological Weapons Convention
and the peaceful use of space.
Upon leaving government service in 2009, Rocca joined the consulting firm Visión Américas.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs is the head of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs within the United States Department of State, which handles U.S...
from 2001 to 2006.
Biography
A native of Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Christina B. Rocca was educated at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, receiving a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
in 1980. She speaks French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
In 1982, Rocca joined the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
as a staff operations officer. She worked there until January 1997, at which time she became Foreign Affairs Advisor to Sen.
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Sam Brownback
Sam Brownback
Samuel Dale "Sam" Brownback is the 46th and current Governor of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1996 to 2011, and as a U.S. Representative for Kansas's 2nd congressional district from 1995 to 1996...
(R
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
—KS), a member of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It is charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. The Foreign Relations Committee is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid programs as...
. She held this post until May 2001. While working for Brownback, she specialized on South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
, as well as Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. She authored several pieces of legislation, including the Silk Road Strategy Act of 1999; bills granting permanent normal trade relations status to Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
and Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
; and three amendments allowing the president to waive certain sanctions imposed on India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
In 2001, President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
nominated Rocca as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs is the head of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs within the United States Department of State, which handles U.S...
and, after Senate confirmation, she held this office from June 1, 2001 to February 17, 2006. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Rocca helped design a new set of US policies towards South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
. In the immediate post-9/11 period, she oversaw U.S. diplomacy in the period leading up to the invasion of Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
. She also oversaw the U.S.'s diplomatic response to the 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff. She was involved in the organized response and humanitarian assistance in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake
2005 Kashmir earthquake
The 2005 Kashmir earthquake was a major earthquake centered in Pakistan-administered Kashmir known as Azad Kashmir, near the city of Muzaffarabad, affecting Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It occurred at 08:52:37 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October 2005...
.
President Bush then named Rocca as the United States Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament
Conference on Disarmament
Conference on Disarmament is a forum established by the international community to negotiate multilateral arms control and disarmament agreements...
in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and Ambassador Rocca held this post from August 2006 until January 2009. There, she represented the U.S. during nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated....
talks and negotiations related to the Biological Weapons Convention
Biological Weapons Convention
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the...
and the peaceful use of space.
Upon leaving government service in 2009, Rocca joined the consulting firm Visión Américas.