Michael Ratney

Michael Ratney is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of Minister-Counselor. He joined the service in 1990. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, he served as the Acting Deputy Director of the US Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. His most recent assignment before this was chargé d’affaires a.i. at the US embassy in Jerusalem. Ratney served as the dean of the School of Language Studies at the Foreign Service Institute. He was previously on the National Defense University faculty. He served as the State Department’s acting deputy assistant secretary for the Levant and Israel and Palestinian Affairs, and was the US special envoy for Syria. Earlier, Ratney was the US consul general in Jerusalem. He was the deputy assistant secretary for international media in the State Department’s Bureau of Public Affairs. Prior to this, he served as a spokesman for the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Other assignments include serving as deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Doha, Qatar, as well as tours in Mexico City, Baghdad, Beirut, Casablanca, Bridgetown, and Washington, D.C. 

On April 22, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Ratney to be the next United States ambassador to Saudi Arabia. On April 25, 2022, his nomination was sent to the Senate. Hearings on his nomination were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 16, 2022. The committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate floor on June 23, 2022. Ratney was confirmed as US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia by the Senate via voice vote on March 14, 2023.