 After spending a few years at the State Department's Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia desk, Carney was appointed as U.S. consul in Udorn, Thailand and later as political officer in Bangkok during the Third Indochina War from 1979 until 1983.After serving three year stints as the political counselor to U.S.Missions in Jakarta, Indonesia and Pretoria, South Africa (before Apartheid ended), Carney joined the U.S. Mission to the UN as political adviser for the 1989 UN General Assembly.