His Royal Highness Prince
Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Secretary-General of the National Security
Council.
Prior
to his appointment, Prince Bandar served as the
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the
United States of America from October 24, 1983
to September 8, 2005.
Prince Bandar was born in
Saudi Arabia on March 2, 1949, at Taif, the
summer capital of the Kingdom, the son of His
Royal Highness Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz
Al-Saud, the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of
Defense and Aviation, and Inspector-General. He
is married to Princess Haifa Bint Faisal. He has
four sons and four daughters.
Prince Bandar was appointed Ambassador to the
United States by the Custodian of the Two Holy
Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud on
September 27, 1983 and presented his credentials
to President Ronald Reagan on October 24, 1983.
On August 7, 1995, he was promoted to the rank
of Minister. During his tenure in
Washington, Prince Bandar served as the Dean of
the Diplomatic Corps.
Prince Bandar graduated
from the British Royal Air Force College
at Cranwell, England, in 1968 and was
commissioned as a second lieutenant in the
Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). He received
pilot training in the United Kingdom and
the United States, and has flown numerous
fighter aircraft including the JP 3-4,
T-38, T-33, F-5, F-53/55, F-102, and the
F-15. During his seventeen-year military
career he attained the rank of lieutenant
colonel, commanded fighter squadrons at
three RSAF bases, and undertook program
management responsibilities in the major
RSAF modernization project Peace Hawk. In
addition, Prince Bandar carried out
special assignments in Washington, DC,
during the debates between the U.S.
administration and the Congress concerning
the sale to Saudi Arabia of F-15s in 1978
and of AWACs in 1981. In 1982 he was
assigned to Washington, DC, as the
Kingdom's defense attach�.
Prince Bandar completed
his postgraduate work in several U.S.
military schools including staff courses
with the Air Command and Staff College at
Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery,
Alabama, and with the Industrial College
of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair in
Washington, DC. He received his master's
degree in international public policy from
the Johns Hopkins University School of
Advanced International Studies,
Washington, DC, in 1980.
As special envoy for
the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King
Fahd bin Abdulaziz, Prince Bandar was
involved in cease-fire negotiations in the
Lebanese civil war, and has been
instrumental in resolving a number of
regional and international crises, such as
the Lockerbie incident in 1999. He was the
Saudi delegate in the Gulf Cooperation
Council mission observing the 1991 Middle
East peace talks in Madrid, and has been a
regular member of the Kingdom's delegation
to the United Nations General Assembly
since 1984. Prince Bandar has been awarded
many medals and decorations, including the
Hawk Flying Medal of Aviation, the King
Faisal Medal, and the King Abdulaziz Sash,
as well as honors from other nations.
Source: Saudi
Embassy
As of March, 2006
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