"After graduating from Colgate in 1963, I spent two years as a PeaceCorps Volunteer in Nepal, then a year of graduate study in South Asian affairsat the University of Pennsylvania, and another year in Nepal on a studentFulbright grant. On returning from Nepal in 1967, I joined the State Departmentand was assigned -- you guessed it -- to Sri Lanka, where I was a junior officertrainee until 1970. I learned the language, Sinhala, at that time and, courtesyof Senator Jesse Helms (who, as chairman of the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee, held up final confirmation of 35 of us), was able to spend anotherseven months in 1995 resurrecting that language ability. I use the language alot, with Buddhist monks and village people in particular. English is widelyused in government and the commercial sector of the economy. Between 1970 andDecember 1995 I served in India, Bahrain and Nepal in positions of increasingseniority, and for the past 13 years I was in Washington in a series of jobs.These included three deputy assistant secretary positions as well as coordinatorfor counter-terrorism. The last position carried with it ambassadorial rank,though I was based in Washington. "