Consul General

Karen Elizabeth Johnson is the Consul General in Hamburg. She is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service with 20 years experience in the Department of State. She formerly worked for the Department of Defense in Stuttgart and Heidelberg for nine years.

Ms Johnson’s State Department career began in 1988 with her assignment to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea where she served as a consular officer. From 1990-1992 she was an administrative officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Munich. Ms Johnson was a Foreign Service Institute Course Manager at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia from 1992-1995. In late 1995 she assumed responsibility for managing the real estate holdings of the Department of State in much of Europe, to include Germany. She was actively involved in planning the move of the U.S. Embassy from Bonn to Berlin.

From 1997- 2001 Ms Johnson was posted to the U.S. Mission to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland where she was the political officer responsible for budget and management reform issues related to the UN specialized agencies. Her portfolio also included human rights and International Committee of the Red Cross issues. From 2001 to 2003 Ms Johnson directed the Integrated Logistics Management System for the Department of State. She attended the National War College at the National Defense University (NDU) from 2003 to 2004 and then served as Deputy Director of the Peacekeeping and Sanctions Office of the International Organizations Bureau. She also served in the Bureau of Human Resources in 2006 and from 2006 to 2007 she served as the Provincial Reconstruction Team Director for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan where she oversaw the State Department’s participation in Provincial Reconstruction Teams.

Ms Johnson was born and reared in Port Arthur, Texas and graduated from Lamar University with a BA in Sociology and Government. She holds a Master of Education degree in Counseling from Boston University and a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy from NDU. She also attended Universität Wien as a Rotary Foundation Fellow. She is the recipient of numerous Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards.