He served as special assistant to Under Secretary of State George Ball (1962–64), a political officer in Beirut, Lebanon (1965–69) and in Casablanca, Morocco (1969–72), executive assistant to Under Secretary of State Joseph J. Sisco (1972–1975), consul general in Bordeaux, France (1975–77), officer in the Bureau of European Affairs (1978–79), chief of the US Embassy's political section in Moscow (1979–81), deputy chief of the US Mission to Jordan (1981–84), Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and Deputy Press Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1985–1986), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (1986–88), Ambassador to Syria (1989–1991), Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (1991–93), United States Ambassador to Israel (1993–94), Director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University (August 1994–present).