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Ambassador of the United States to Laos
Ambassador of the United States to Laos
	Seal of the United States Department of State
	Incumbent; Heather Variava; since February 6, 2024
Nominator	The President of the United States
Appointer	The President; with Senate advice and consent
Inaugural holder	Paul L. Guest; as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim
Formation	August 1950
Website	U.S. Embassy - Vientiane

This is a list of United States ambassadors to Laos. The United States established full diplomatic relations with Laos in 1955, following its full independence from France in 1954.^{[citation needed]}

On December 29, 1961, during the Laotian Civil War, President John F. Kennedy made the Ambassador to Laos the de facto commander of U.S. military and paramilitary operations within the Kingdom of Laos for the length of the war.^[1]

Accounting for American personnel missing in Laos and clearing unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the wars in Indochina were the initial focuses of the post-1975 bilateral relationship. Since that time the relationship has broadened to include cooperation on a range of issues including counter-narcotics, health, child nutrition, environmental sustainability, trade liberalization, and English language training. This expansion in cooperation has accelerated since 2009, with the launch of the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI), which serves as a platform to address complex, transnational development and policy changes in the Lower Mekong sub-region. The United States and Laos share a commitment to ensuring a prosperous and sustainable future for the Mekong sub-region. In July 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Laos, marking the first visit by a Secretary of State since 1955.^{[citation needed]}

A large part of U.S. bilateral assistance to Laos is devoted to improving health and child nutrition. The United States also helps improve trade policy in Laos, promotes sustainable development and biodiversity conservation, and works to strengthen the criminal justice system and law enforcement. The United States has provided significant support for clearance of UXO from the war, particularly cluster munitions, as well as for risk education and victims’ assistance.^{[citation needed]}

Ambassadors

Name	Presentation of credentials	Termination of mission	Comment
Paul L. Guest	August 1950	December 1950	ad interim
Donald R. Heath	December 29, 1950	November 1, 1954	Resident at Saigon
Charles Yost	November 1, 1954	April 27, 1956
J. Graham Parsons	October 12, 1956	February 8, 1958
Horace H. Smith	April 9, 1958	June 21, 1960
Winthrop G. Brown	July 25, 1960	June 28, 1962
Leonard S. Unger	July 25, 1962	December 1, 1964
William H. Sullivan	December 23, 1964	March 18, 1969
G. McMurtrie Godley	July 24, 1969	April 23, 1973
Charles S. Whitehouse	September 20, 1973	April 12, 1975
Thomas J. Corcoran^[2]	August 1975	March 1978	ad interim
George B. Roberts, Jr.	March 1978	September 1979	ad interim
Leo J. Moser	September 1979	October 1981	ad interim
William W. Thomas, Jr.	November 1981	November 1983	ad interim
Theresa Anne Tull	November 1983	August 1986	ad interim
Harriet W. Isom	August 1986	August 1989	ad interim
Charles B. Salmon, Jr.	August 1989	July 26, 1993	ad interim August 1989-August 1992, Ambassador August 6, 1992 – July 26, 1993
Victor L. Tomseth	January 8, 1994	August 20, 1996
Wendy Chamberlin	September 5, 1996	June 14, 1999
Douglas A. Hartwick	September 18, 2001	April 21, 2004
Patricia M. Haslach	September 4, 2004	March 26, 2007
Ravic R. Huso	June 22, 2007	August 22, 2010
Karen B. Stewart	November 16, 2010	August 8, 2013
Daniel A. Clune	September 16, 2013	September 21, 2016
Rena Bitter	November 2, 2016	January 26, 2020
Peter Haymond	February 7, 2020	September 1, 2023
Michelle Y. Outlaw	September 1, 2023	February 6, 2024	ad interim
Heather Variava	February 6, 2024	Incumbent