Joey Hood, currently Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait became a Pickering Fellow in 1998 and is one of the first three Pickering Fellows to reach the rank of Senior Foreign Service.  Prior to his current assignment, he served in the Office of West African Affairs and at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  Mr. Hood spent most of his career working in the Middle East, particularly on the Arabian Peninsula.  Before assuming his duties in Kuwait, he was Consul General and Principal Officer in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Acting Director of the State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs; helped coordinate U.S. Saudi military cooperation in Riyadh; and, in Asmara, apprised Washington of Eritrea’s human rights abuses and served as a liaison to rebel leaders in Darfur, Sudan.  He has also served in Yemen and Qatar.  Mr. Hood earned his master’s degree from Tufts University and his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College.