Former US Ambassador to Malta Bruce Laingen recently addressed the Consular Corps of Washington DC.

Apart from having served as Ambassador to Malta between 1977 and 1979, Ambassador Laingen also happened to be charge d’affaires of the US Embassy in Teheran when it was stormed and its staff taken hostage. He spent over a year held hostage before being released.

Ambassador Laingen is also president of the American Academy of Diplomacy, a non-profit making, limited membership society of men and women retired from government service who served as ambassadors in major American embassies or who have held other senior positions in the conduct of American foreign policy. The Academy is dedicated to fostering the highest standards in the conduct of diplomacy.

Ambassador Laingen is a Minnesotan, who served in the Foreign Service for 38 years, including time as a hostage in Iran from 1979-1981. Following his release, Ambassador Laingen served as vice president of the National Defence University in Washington, DC until his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1987.

He was executive director of the National Commission on the Public Service (The Volcker Commission) from 1987 until the Commission completed its work in 1990. He has been president of the American Academy of Diplomacy since l991.