Thomas A. Shannon, Jr. is the United States ambassador to Brazil. He recently served as assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs from 2005 to 2009. He has been a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, serving as special assistant to the president and senior director for western hemisphere affairs at the National Security Council from 2003 to 2005. Prior to that, Ambassador Shannon was deputy assistant secretary of western hemisphere affairs at the Department of State from 2002 to 2003, where he was director of Andean Affairs from 2001 to 2002. He was also U.S. deputy permanent representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) from 2000 to 2001. Ambassador Shannon has held a variety of diplomatic positions including director for Inter-American affairs at the National Security Council from 1999 to 2000, political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela from 1996 to 1999, and regional labor attaché at the U.S. Consulate General in Johannesburg, South Africa from 1992 to 1996. During his career as a foreign service officer, he also served as special assistant to the ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Brasília, Brazil from 1989 to 1992, country officer for Cameroon, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe from 1987 to 1989, and consular/political rotational officer at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City, Guatemala from 1984 to 1986. Ambassador Shannon received a M.Phil and a D.Phil in Politics from Oxford University and graduated with high honors from the College of William and Mary.