 His first tour of duty was at the U.S. Mission Berlin (West) where he worked primarily on consular affairs and political reporting on Iran.This was followed by assignment to the Office of Soviet Affairs in Washington to handle bilateral relations and some arms control issues, including implementation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.Afterwards, as a political officer at the American Embassy in Moscow, he was responsible for covering Soviet relations towards Europe (in particular the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Two Plus Four Agreement on German unification), arms control issues (the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe), and the new USSR Supreme Soviet Defense and State Security Committee.