| Deborah Jones | |
| Office: | 11th United States Ambassador to Libya |
| President: | Barack Obama |
| Term Start: | June 20, 2013 |
| Term End: | September 12, 2015[1] |
| Predecessor: | Christopher Stevens |
| Successor: | Peter Bodde |
| Office1: | United States Ambassador to Kuwait |
| President1: | George W. Bush Barack Obama |
| Term Start1: | April 28, 2008 |
| Term End1: | June 30, 2011 |
| Predecessor1: | Richard LeBaron |
| Successor1: | Matthew Tueller |
| Spouse: | Richard Olson (m. 1990 - div. 2019) |
| Alma Mater: | Brigham Young University National Defense University |
Deborah Kay Jones (born 1956) is an American diplomat and the former United States ambassador to Libya.[2] [3] Prior to her appointment in Libya, she was the United States ambassador to Kuwait from 2008 to 2011.[4]
She has degrees from Brigham Young University and the National Defense University.
She was married to Richard G. Olson, the former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and they have two children.[5] [6]
Jones and Olson were investigated by the State Department's Office of Inspector General for failing to report a gift of diamonds worth $60,000 by the emir of Dubai to Jones's mother while Olson was head of the U.S. consulate in Dubai and Jones was leading the State Department's Office of Arabian Affairs in Washington. Jones had also previously served as deputy chief of mission in the United Arab Emirates (of which Dubai is a part). The State Department closed the investigation without taking action after the couple successfully argued that Jones’s mother was not their dependent for tax purposes at the time of the gift, and therefore not covered by the requirements of the Foreign Gifts and Decoration Act. In September 2016 letter, State Department lawyers requested that the couple voluntarily relinquish the diamonds, stating it was “extremely disappointing that you were not sufficiently concerned with the gift to seek guidance from the ethics office.” Jones' mother died in December 2022, and Jones stated to the Washington Post in September 2023 that she did not know what happened to the diamonds.[7]
Jones served as U.S. ambassador to Libya from 2013 to 2015, though this posting became non-residential on July 26, 2014, when the Tripoli embassy was closed and diplomatic activities were moved to the U.S. embassy in Valletta, Malta.[8]
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