Deputy Chief of Mission

Matt Harrington

Matt Harrington, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy, Windhoek, Namibia

Matt Harrington is a career Foreign Service Officer who has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek, Namibia since August 2008.  Prior to his arrival in Windhoek, Mr. Harrington served as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, where he oversaw an 8-person section charged with reporting on and analyzing key political and economic developments, and with leading Embassy efforts to secure the Government of Portugal’s collaboration on key foreign policy issues. 

Prior to his arrival in Lisbon, Mr. Harrington served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Lomé, Togo (2003-2005), where he worked to ensure the safety of the American community after the death of the country’s long-serving president sparked widespread instability.  From 2000-2003, he was political section chief in Harare, Zimbabwe, at the height of the government’s large-scale seizure of commercial farmland.     Mr. Harrington’s most recent Washington assignment was a two-year tour as desk officer for Sudan (1998-2000),  where he contributed to U.S. efforts to re-energize the north-south peace process, after serving one year as a Watch Officer in the 24-hour Operations Center.  Mr. Harrington has also worked as a consular officer in Accra, Ghana (1992-94) and as a human rights reporting officer in Brasilia, Brazil (1995-97).  

Before joining the Foreign Service in 1991, Mr. Harrington taught English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania and spent many of his childhood years in Zambia and Tanzania, where his parents were teachers. 

Mr. Harrington graduated summa cum laude from Washington and Lee University with a B.A. degree in history in 1988. 

Mr. Harrington speaks French and Portuguese.   He is married to the former Julie Chavez, who hails from southern California.  They have a son, Ben (8), and a daughter, Georgia (4).