Scott Rauland assumed his duties as Senior Advisor at the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, on August 22, 2016. Before that he served for two years as the Chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy Minsk, where he oversaw a warming in relations that led to a doubling of American staff.

In Washington, Scott served as the Director of the Foreign Policy Advisor (POLAD) Program in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs from 2012-2014. Other foreign assignments include work as the Public Affairs Officer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2010-12), Kabul, Afghanistan (2008-09), and Frankfurt 2005-07); Consul General in Yekaterinburg, Russia (2003-05); Public Affairs Officer in Quito, Ecuador (2000-03); Information Center Director in Islamabad, Pakistan (1998-2000); Program Development Officer in Berlin for the new German states (1995-98); and Assistant Public Affairs Officer in Baku, Azerbaijan (1993-94). He is a member of the Senior Foreign Service, and is fluent in Russian, German and Spanish.

Before joining the Department of State, Scott was a pioneer in distance education, teaching classes in Russian via television to students in rural Wisconsin from 1990-93. He was named an NEA “Master Educator” in 1992. Scott’s first professional experience overseas was in Germany, where he lived from 1982-84, teaching English at a Berlitz School in Wiesbaden and studying at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. He got a taste of foreign service work as an exhibit guide for the U.S. Information Agency exhibit “Computers in the Life of the USA,” which was shown in the Soviet cities of Magnitogorsk, Leningrad and Minsk in 1988. Scott received a BA in European History from the University of Chicago in 1981, and an MA in Russian Language and Literature from the Ohio State University in 1986.