Leslie M. Tsou is a Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson School. She retired from the U.S. Department of State in April 2023 after more than 30 years of service. Her final tour of duty was as U.S. Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman. She was the first Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem from 2017 to 2019, and the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv from 2016 to 2017. She served as Senior Advisor for Iran from 2015 to 2016, and Director of the Office of Iranian Affairs from 2012 to 2015 in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau at the Department of State. She was Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 2011 to 2012, and Arabian Peninsula Director on the National Security Staff at the White House from 2010 to 2011. Other overseas assignments include London, Tripoli, Kuwait, and Warsaw. Other domestic assignments include Deputy Director of the Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs, Libya Desk Officer, and Tunisia Desk Officer in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau of the Department of State, UK Desk Officer in the European Affairs Bureau at the Department of State, and several positions in the Secretary of State’s office. She is the recipient of numerous Department of State awards, including the 2003 Director General Award for Reporting.
Ambassador Tsou earned a B.S. at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. A native of Northern Virginia, she resides in Bedminster, New Jersey.