 From 1977 to 1978 he was second secretary and political officer for the U.S. Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, and then consul and principal officer for the U.S. consulate in Kaduna, Nigeria between 1978 and 1981.In 1982 he started his assignment as first secretary and chief of the political/economic section at the U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria and was named deputy chief of mission in Sofia in 1984.Between 1985 and 1986 he worked as Deputy Director of the Office of Regional Affairs for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State.