REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Commonwealth of Australia
CANDIDATE: Arthur Boggess Culvahouse, Jr.
Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr. is Chair Emeritus and Of Counsel to the international law firm of O’Melveny & Myers LLP. He served as Chair of the firm from 2000 to early 2012 and has practiced law with O’Melveny from 1976 to 1984, and from 1989 to the present. Mr. Culvahouse served as Counsel to the President of the United States from March 1987 through January 1989 advising President Ronald Reagan on matters ranging from the Iran-Contra investigations, to the Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Anthony Kennedy. After leaving the White House he served on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the Intelligence Oversight Board, the Nuclear Command and Control System Federal Advisory Committee, and the US Chamber of Commerce Commission on the Regulation of US Capital Markets in the 21st Century. His strong leadership credentials, coupled with his extensive experience in government on a diverse array of important policy issues, make him an excellent candidate for Ambassador to the Commonwealth of Australia.
Mr. Culvahouse’s commitment to public service has been demonstrated further by his service on the Board of Directors of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity; the Supreme Court Fellows Commission; the Board of Visitors of the US Naval Academy; the Counterintelligence Advisory Panel to the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; and the Federal Advisory Committee on Nuclear Failsafe and Risk Reduction. He currently is a member of the Board of The Brookings Institution and the Board of the Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy.
Mr. Culvahouse earned his B.S. degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee and received his J.D. degree from the New York University School of Law, New York, New York. In January 1989, President Reagan awarded Mr. Culvahouse the Presidential Citizens’ Medal and in December of 1992, Secretary of Defense Cheney awarded him the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.