The new US consul for Northern Ireland, who will carry much of the responsibility for President Clinton's visit there next month, has taken up her post in Belfast.
Ms Jane Fort, a native of Jackson, Tennessee, held a senior position on the Russian desk at the National Security Council in Washington before her move to Belfast.
She replaces Ms Kathleen Stephens, who has moved to Lisbon as chief-of-mission for Portugal.
Ms Fort, who is fluent in Spanish, French and Russian, is a career diplomat. She gained a Ph.D from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1977, and is a graduate of Tulane University, New Orleans.
She entered the US foreign service in 1982, and since then has served in Washington, Colombia, Spain, Belgium and Kazakhstan, formerly part of the USSR, where she was deputy chief-of-mission from 1994.
For two years prior to that her Russian expertise was brought in to play at the State Department where she was international relations officer at the Office of Russian and Newly Independent States. Her last posting, which she took up in 1996, was as director for Russia and Central Asia at the National Security Council.
