Welcome to the New US Consul General Douglass Benning

Douglass Benning joined the Department of State in 1996 and is a member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor.

From 2021 to 2023, Mr. Benning served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, managing the Department of State’s global consular operations.  He has extensive experience in Consular Affairs, where he has served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resources, Executive Director, Senior Advisor, and Director of Domestic Visa Operations. Mr. Benning was Director of the Operations Center, the State Department’s 24-hour crisis management and communications center, from 2015 until 2016, where he previously served as Deputy Director.

From 2014 to 2015, Mr. Benning worked at the National Security Council as a Deputy Executive Secretary, managing interagency communications. Prior to that, he was Director of Crisis Management Training at the Foreign Service Institute. He served as the Consul General in Tegucigalpa, and other postings include London, Prague, and Mexico City and assignments in the Consular Affairs Bureau and Operations Center.

Mr. Benning is a graduate of Tulane University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. He speaks Spanish and Italian. Born in Augusta, Georgia, he is married with two adult children and is an avid tennis player.

To find out more about the new Consul General’s career in State Department, click here.