Carmela Conroy

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Carmela Conroy
Official U.S. Department of State portrait of Carmela Conroy
United States Consul General in Lahore, Pakistan
In office
2009–2011
Personal details
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Washington; University of Washington School of Law; Naval War College
OccupationDiplomat, prosecutor

Carmela Conroy is an American diplomat and former career Foreign Service officer whose 25-year diplomatic career included postings across Asia, Europe, and the Pacific. She is best known for serving as the U.S. Consul General in Lahore, Pakistan during the 2011 Raymond Davis incident, a major diplomatic crisis between the United States and Pakistan.[1][2][3]

Her Foreign Service assignments spanned Japan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Norway, and Pakistan, where she held roles in political affairs, consular operations, public diplomacy, and interagency coordination. Before joining the Foreign Service, Conroy served as a deputy prosecutor in Spokane County, Washington.[1]

Early life and education

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Conroy was raised in Spokane Valley in a working-class family. Her father was a yard master for the Great Northern Railroad and served over forty years in the Washington Air National Guard as a combat communicator, retiring at the rank of master sergeant.[4] She graduated from Central Valley High School in 1980[5] before attending the University of Washington.[1]

She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and returned to Seattle to study law, earning her Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law, where she served as President of the Student Bar Association.[1][6]

She later earned an M.A. in national security studies, graduating with highest distinction from the U.S. Naval War College's College of Naval Command and Staff.[6] Her 2004 research paper, Winning the Other, Other War: Winning Military Hearts and Minds for MOOTW in the Global War on Terror, focused on civil-military coordination and political stabilization.[7]

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Following law school and before her diplomatic career, Conroy worked as a deputy prosecutor in Spokane County from 1992 to 1996, handling felony and domestic-violence cases.[1] Her experience in criminal law and victim advocacy later informed her work on rule-of-law issues in conflict and post-conflict environments.[6]

Foreign Service career

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Early postings

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Conroy joined the United States Foreign Service in 1996. Her early assignments included postings in Auckland[8] and Tokyo, where she worked on political, consular, and public diplomacy issues.[1][9]

In Tokyo, she was involved in diplomatic engagement related to the Atsugi incinerator emissions dispute.[1]

Between 2000 and 2001, Conroy served as a watch officer in the State Department's Operations Center, summarizing overseas communications and news reports for cabinet secretaries. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, she was in Washington answering calls of support from America's allies.[1]

Afghanistan

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Following completion of her M.A. at the Naval War College in 2004, Conroy joined the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamyan, Afghanistan, where she advised the New Zealand-led command on political issues, security reform, and humanitarian assistance.[6] She later returned to Afghanistan to serve as refugee coordinator for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran during the post-9/11 conflicts. overseeing protection and repatriation programs.[1]

Consul General in Lahore

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Conroy served as the U.S. Consul General in Lahore, Pakistan, becoming the senior American diplomat in Punjab Province from 2009 to 2011.[1][9]

Clinton and Conroy unveiling consulate seal in Lahore
Secretary Clinton and Consul General Carmela Conroy unveiling the new Consulate General seal in Lahore, October 29 2009.[10]

During her tenure, Lahore and the wider Punjab Province experienced a series of major militant attacks. On 15 October 2009, coordinated gun and bomb assaults in Lahore targeted police and intelligence facilities, killing dozens.[11][12]

On 7 December 2009, twin blasts at Moon Market in Allama Iqbal Town killed dozens and wounded about 100 people.[13]

This was followed on 15 December 2009 by a bombing in Dera Ghazi Khan that killed at least 33 people in a crowded market area.[14]

In March 2010, Lahore experienced further violence with twin suicide attacks on 12 March that killed at least 45 people and injured more than 100.[15][16]

On 28 May 2010, militants carried out coordinated attacks on two Ahmadi mosques in Lahore, killing 94 worshippers and injuring more than 100.[17]

Conroy's diplomatic counterparts included Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, with whom Secretary Clinton met during Clinton's October 2009 Lahore visit.[18][10] Taseer was assassinated by his own bodyguard on January 4, 2011, while Conroy remained in her post.[19]

During the Raymond Davis crisis, Jamaat-i-Islami protesters demanded authorities register charges against Conroy and threatened to besiege the U.S. consulate.[20]

Raymond Davis incident

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Front side of the CIA Agency Seal Medal awarded to Carmela Conroy
Front of the CIA Agency Seal Medal awarded to Carmela Conroy
Back side of the CIA Agency Seal Medal awarded to Carmela Conroy
Back of the CIA Agency Seal Medal awarded to Carmela Conroy
Certificate for CIA Agency Seal Medal issued to Carmela Conroy
CIA Agency Seal Medal award certificate issued to Carmela Conroy

On January 27, 2011, CIA security contractor Raymond Allen Davis was arrested after shooting two men he said were trying to rob him at gunpoint; a third Pakistani man died when a U.S. consulate vehicle responding to the scene struck his motorcycle.[21][22][23]

Davis spent 49 days in custody, most of them in Kot Lakhpat Jail. According to his memoir, Conroy was the senior U.S. diplomat responsible for the consulate’s response.[21] Davis writes that she was among the first U.S. officials to see him after his arrest, that she arranged medical documentation of his treatment, briefed him on his rights under the Vienna Convention, and provided him with a notebook to send written messages to his family through consular channels.[21] He describes Conroy and other consulate personnel visiting him regularly, monitoring his welfare, and challenging prison officials over his treatment.[21]

At the end of the book, Davis writes of Conroy, “In many ways, Carmela Conroy is the true hero of this story… A true diplomat, she never allowed the immensity of the task she faced to overwhelm her, despite spending nearly as many hours in Kot Lakhpat Jail as I did.”[21]

On 16 March 2011, the families of the two men Davis killed accepted compensation under Pakistan’s diyat law, and he was released and transferred to U.S. custody the same day.[2][22][3]

Steve Coll's Directorate S notes that Davis's detention became intertwined with U.S. planning for a potential raid on Osama bin Laden's suspected hideout in Abbottabad. Coll writes that after CIA Director Leon Panetta briefed the White House, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told him that President Obama "believes we need to move very quickly," a judgment that "increased the pressure to somehow extract Raymond Davis from Pakistani custody," because "if the United States attacked the Abbottabad house on its own and Davis was still in prison, he might well be killed."[3] Davis was released seven weeks before U.S. Navy SEALs conducted Operation Neptune Spear on 2 May 2011, killing bin Laden in Abbottabad.[3] Conroy received the CIA's Agency Seal Medal for her work during Davis's detention.[24]

Her role in the Davis case is documented in Davis’s memoir The Contractor,[25] Steve Coll’s Directorate S,[3] contemporary international reporting,[22][23] and a 2011 feature profile in GT Magazine.[26]

Later assignments

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Following her assignment in Lahore, Conroy served at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo as Political and Economic Affairs Counselor from 2012 to 2015, where she worked on alliance management and diplomatic engagement with Norwegian partners.[1][24]

She later returned to Japan as Director of the FSI Yokohama Japanese Language and Area Training Center from 2018 to 2020.[27]

During her career, she received seven U.S. Department of State Superior or Meritorious Honor Awards.[24]

In June 2018, she delivered the keynote address at the University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies graduation ceremony.[28]

Political career

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Conroy formerly served as chair of the Spokane County Democratic Party.[29]

In 2024, she ran as the Democratic nominee for Washington's 5th congressional district against Republican Michael Baumgartner for the seat being vacated by Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers.[29]

In 2025, Conroy announced her candidacy for a second run against Baumgartner in 2026.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Dinman, Emry (October 13, 2024). "Tested by conflict and diplomacy, Carmela Conroy says she is ready for Congress". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Who facilitated the release of Raymond Davis?". Dunya News. July 22, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e Coll, Steve (2018). Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. New York: Penguin Press. pp. 470–472. ISBN 978-1-594-20458-6.
  4. ^ "Judith Conroy Obituary". Dignity Memorial. May 2018.
  5. ^ "Area residents graduate from military training". The Spokesman-Review. September 29, 2004.
  6. ^ a b c d "A Law Degree in Action". UW Law Alumni Magazine. University of Washington School of Law (Gallagher Law Library Digital Commons). Summer 2011. pp. 36–39. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
  7. ^ Naval War College Papers and Publications Index (PDF) (Report). United States Naval War College. 2004. p. 51. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  8. ^ Foreign Service Assignments, January 1999 (PDF) (Report). U.S. Department of State. 1999. p. 44. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Carmela Conroy assumes charge as Principal Officer of U.S. Consulate in Lahore". Balochistan Times. August 28, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Secretary Clinton Unveils Consulate General Seal in Lahore (Photo)". Wikimedia Commons. October 29, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  11. ^ "Wave of attacks rock Pakistan". Al Jazeera. October 16, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  12. ^ "Gun and bomb attacks kill 39 people in Pakistan". The Guardian. October 15, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  13. ^ "Dozens killed in Pakistan attacks". Al Jazeera. December 8, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  14. ^ "Deadly bombing hits Pakistani town". Al Jazeera. December 15, 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  15. ^ "Lahore hit by double bomb attack". The Guardian. March 12, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  16. ^ "Pakistani army 'target of attack'". Al Jazeera. March 12, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  17. ^ "Pakistan: Massacre of Minority Ahmadis". Human Rights Watch. June 1, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  18. ^ "Secretary Clinton Concludes 3-Day Visit to Pakistan". U.S. Department of State. October 30, 2009. Retrieved November 27, 2025.
  19. ^ Husain, Ed (January 7, 2011). "Explaining the Salman Taseer Murder". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved November 27, 2025.
  20. ^ "Rally at Qurtaba Chowk: Give up hit and run men or we trash consulate". The Express Tribune. February 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2025.
  21. ^ a b c d e Davis, Raymond Allen (2017). The Contractor: How I Landed in a Pakistani Prison and Ignited a Diplomatic Crisis. Dallas: BenBella Books. pp. 75–188, 209. ISBN 978-1-941631-84-3.
  22. ^ a b c "Raymond Davis pens tell-all on 2011 Pakistan incident". Dawn. June 29, 2017. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  23. ^ a b "Raymond Davis indicted in double murder". Dawn. March 16, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  24. ^ a b c "Visit by Honorable Ms. Carmela Conroy". NATO Joint Warfare Centre (JWC). North Atlantic Treaty Organization. October 22, 2012. Archived from the original on July 5, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  25. ^ Davis, Raymond Allen (2017). The Contractor: How I Landed in a Pakistani Prison and Ignited a Diplomatic Crisis. BenBella Books. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-941631-84-3.
  26. ^ Momin, Misbah; Zahid, Arooj (October 1–15, 2011). "Pakistani American". GT Magazine. Lahore, Pakistan: GT Publishing. pp. 84–89. Retrieved November 27, 2025.
  27. ^ An Unofficial History of the US Department of State Japanese Language and Area Training Center in Japan: The First Forty Years (Part 1) (PDF) (Report). Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST). 2020. p. 75. Retrieved November 18, 2025. Lists Carmela Conroy as Director of the FSI Yokohama Japanese Language and Area Training Center, 2018–2020.
  28. ^ Meet the Class of 2018 – Carmela Conroy. University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies. June 26, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  29. ^ a b "Michael Baumgartner and Carmela Conroy: who will fill the seat being vacated for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers?". The Spokesman-Review. October 9, 2024. Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  30. ^ "As 2026 midterms loom, Washington's congressional lawmakers rake in cash". Washington State Standard. July 28, 2025. Retrieved November 27, 2025.
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