Deputy Chief of Mission

Virginia E. Palmer
Deputy Chief of Mission, Hanoi, Vietnam

Virginia Palmer is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. She began her duties as Deputy Chief of Mission in Hanoi in August 2008. She was the Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism from September 2005 to May 2008. Prior to that, she was the Director of the East Asia Bureau’s Office of Economic Policy. She was Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Previous tours include Beijing, Hong Kong, Harare, Calgary, the Office of Maghreb Affairs, and the Operations Center in the State Department. She has an M.A. from the University of Virginia and a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University. She speaks Chinese and French. Virginia and her husband, Ismail Asmal, also a Foreign Service Officer, have two daughters.