WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has named a distinguished scholar and former Democratic congressman Timothy Roemer to be his envoy in India in place of Bush administration’s nominee David Mulford, the White House announced.

Roemer served on the blue-ribbon commission investigating the Sep 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States and on a key committee to prevent nuclear proliferation.

Obama, who also named envoys to Sri Lanka and Japan, said the ambassadors will “strengthen our partnerships abroad at this critical time for our nation and the world,”

The ambassadorial positions still need confirmation by the US Senate.

Roemer, 52, served in the US House of Representatives from 1991-2003 before becoming the president of the Centre for National Policy (CNP), a Washington, DC-based national security think tank. While in the House, Roemer served on the intelligence, education and workforce, and science committees. He did not run for re-election in 2002.

Roemer is a distinguished scholar at the Mercatus Centre at George Mason University. He was a partner at Johnston and Associates, a public and legislative affairs consultancy, before he became president of the Centre for National Policy.

Roemer now serves on the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, a bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2007 as an outgrowth of the reforms put forth by the 9/11 Commission to examine how the United States can best address this threat to US national security.

In addition, Roemer serves on the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Presidential Task force on Combating the Ideology of Radical Extremism and the National Parks Second Century Commission.

Born in South Bend, Indiana, Roemer graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a BA degree in 1979. He earned his MA and PhD from the University of Notre Dame. His 1985 dissertation was titled “The Senior Executive Service: Retirement and Public Personnel Policy.”

Obama also named Patricia Butenis, a career diplomat who has previously been posted in Baghdad, Pakistan and New Delhi, as ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives and longtime technology-focused lawyer John Roos as US ambassador to Japan.

– Indo-Asian News Service