Geneva, December 2006. American Citizens Abroad (ACA), a Geneva-based organization serving the interests of overseas Americans living all over the world, announced today the winners of the 2006 Thomas Jefferson Award. This distinction honors State Department employees who have given exemplary service to American citizens residing abroad.

The 2006 winners are David Abell and Rena Bitter, key Consular officials serving in Iraq and Jordan.

David W. Abell is the U.S. Consul General in Baghdad. He joined the Foreign Service in 1987, and has served in Mexico City; Bridgetown, Barbados; Harare, Zimbabwe; Lagos, Nigeria; and Toronto. During his assignments in Washington, DC, David has worked as a trainer for new consular officers and as the head of anti-fraud training.

In Baghdad, David heads the U.S. Embassy section charged with providing essential services to the private sector U.S. community living and working in Iraq. In addition to the normal functions of helping with passports and absentee voting, David is on duty essentially 24 hours per day answering calls for help on a very wide variety of challenging issues and concerns. This is a hardship post in very dangerous circumstances. Davie volunteered for this assignment and his willingness to endure these trying conditions manifest the highest degree of patriotism and devotion to his fellow citizens. ACA salutes his courage, his dedication to his country, and his services to his compatriots living and working abroad.

David has previously received three individual honor awards for his performance as well as a group award. Two of his individual awards have cited his outstanding performance in Harare and Toronto. The group award recognized the introduction of better training for new consular officers. David and his wife, Mary, have a son currently studying at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Rena Bitter is the Consular Chief in Amman, Jordan. She joined the Foreign Service in 1994 and has previously served in Mexico City; Bogota, Colombia; and London. She worked for a year directly with the British Foreign Office before becoming the Chief of the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit at the American Embassy in London. During a recent assignment in Washington, she served as a Special Assistant to former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In her current capacity as the Consular Chief in Amman, Rena has a double responsibility. Not only does she provide a full range of assistance to American citizens visiting and living in Jordan, but also she provides vital backup and support services to David Abell and others at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. She and David lead a powerful team working together to respond to the needs of U.S. citizens in very trying circumstances.

Rena has been the recipient of three awards for her outstanding performance. Two of these cited her leadership of London's nonimmigrant visa unit, the largest visa processing post in Europe. The third noted her contributions to the office of the Secretary of State. As testimony to her courage and dedication, one of her supervisors a few years ago wrote: "If my grandkids were to find themselves in trouble, I would hope someone like Rena would be available" to help them.

ACA salutes David and Rena, thanks them for their outstanding contributions so far, and wishes them well in their careers.

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ACA is a non-partisan, non-profit association of US citizens living outside of the United States. Founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1978, it now has members on six continents. ACA works to address and correct a wide range of inequities in US laws and regulations as they apply to US citizens residing overseas. These include issues such as unfair taxation, deprivation of citizenship, needed changes in voting rights and the promotion of direct congressional representation for the overseas American community. ACA works to promote a positive image of the United States, and of overseas U.S. citizens, and stresses their very important contributions to the economy and the image of America. ACA recently published a new anthology of stories about living abroad entitled: "So Far Yet So Near".

ACA launched the Thomas Jefferson Award in 1993 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson, America's first Secretary of State. Jefferson, who lived outside the new republic for many years, promoting the political, economic and intellectual interests of his country, was the quintessential overseas American. That is why this award is given in his name. The positive response and the impressive nominations submitted for this award each year demonstrate the importance and appreciation of the work that State Department employees do for and on behalf of the 4 million US citizens living and working abroad.

Previous winners of the Thomas Jefferson Award have served in the Cameroon, Italy, Uruguay, Israel, Spain, the Philippines, Washington and the Caribbean. Their commitment, creativity and enthusiasm have helped to serve, inspire and protect their overseas American compatriot communities.

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