24 Facts About Scott Gration

Jonathan Scott Gration was born on 1951 and is a former United States Air Force officer who worked as a policy advisor to President Barack Obama.

Scott Gration studied at Rutgers University and Georgetown University before joining the Air Force.

Scott Gration remained in the Air Force for three decades, flying 274 combat missions and being awarded the Legion of Merit, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and various other decorations.

Scott Gration was found guilty by the Inspector General's Office of mistakenly falsifying at least 3 combat missions while commander of the 39th Wing.

Scott Gration later advised and stumped for the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

Scott Gration subsequently worked as United States Ambassador to Kenya from 2011 to 2012 before resigning in the face of potential disciplinary action for unclassified email use and other issues.

Scott Gration spent his early childhood in what is the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, while his parents worked as missionary teachers.

Scott Gration earned a master's degree in national security studies from Georgetown University in Washington in 1988.

Scott Gration held command until July 1996, and was in command of the group at the time of the Khobar Towers bombing.

Scott Gration was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Legion of Merit, as well as the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and seventy nine other decorations.

Press reports say that in 2009, as a senior official on Obama's transition team, Scott Gration called and emailed several of President Bush's Pentagon appointees to inform them they were being dismissed.

Those calls and emails were followed up by an email from Jim O'Beirne, the special assistant to the secretary of defense for White House liaisons, who expressed exasperation that Scott Gration informed the employees directly instead of letting O'Beirne's office know first.

Scott Gration then joined the Safe Water Network where he helped to provide safe water to vulnerable populations in India, Bangladesh, and Ghana.

Scott Gration's nomination became difficult because the law requires that the space agency chief be appointed from civilian life by the president by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Sources close to the Obama transition said Scott Gration helped write the seven-page space policy paper the Obama campaign released in the August supporting the goal of sending humans to the Moon by 2020 and calling for narrowing the gap between the retirement of the space shuttle and the first flight of its successor system.

On March 17,2009, Scott Gration was named US Special Envoy to Sudan.

Scott Gration clashed with United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice over his approach.

President Obama announced his intent to nominate Scott Gration as United States Ambassador to Kenya on February 10,2011.

Scott Gration's nomination was transmitted to the United States Senate four days later and was approved.

Scott Gration served for 13 months before resigning, citing unspecified "differences" with the Obama administration.

News reports stated that Scott Gration resigned weeks before the scheduled release of a US government audit highly critical of his leadership at the embassy and the start of potential disciplinary action against him.

Scott Gration described media reports describing various theories as to why he resigned his post as "silliness".

The potential action against Scott Gration became a talking point in the Hillary Clinton email controversy during her 2016 presidential campaign as part of the attempt to establish whether the State Department had official guidelines on personal email accounts during her tenure.

Scott Gration released a memoir, Flight Path: Son of Africa to Warrior-Diplomat, telling his life story and defending himself against the charges that led to his resignation.