Who is Donald Burnham Ensenat?

Until today, I did not know. Some of you may have. I could not find a reference to him here at ATS, which I find strange since he has been one of the most influential people diplomatically in the United States during the Bush presidency.

So who is Donald Burnham Ensenat?

From June 6, 2001 to Febuary 2007, he was Chief of Protocol of the United States.

The Chief of Protocol is an officer of the United States Department of State responsible for advising the President of the United States, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State on matters of national and international diplomatic protocol. The Chief arranges itineraries for foreign dignitaries visiting the United States and accompanies the President on all official international travel. Additionally, the Office of the Chief of Protocol is responsible for accrediting foreign diplomats and publishing the list of foreign consular offices in the United States, organizing ceremonies for treaty signings, conducting ambassadorial swearing-in and State Arrival Ceremonies, and maintaining Blair House, the official guest house for state visitors.

The 'Protocol' that Mr. Ensenat was in charge of for almost 6 years in the Bush Whitehouse, was diplomatic protocol.

Protocol (diplomacy)

In international politics, protocol is the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state.
A protocol is a rule which guides how an activity should be performed, especially in the field of diplomacy. In diplomatic services and governmental fields of endeavor protocols are often unwritten guidelines. Protocols specify the proper and generally-accepted behavior in matters of state and diplomacy, such as showing appropriate respect to a head of state, ranking diplomats in chronological order of their accreditation at court, and so on.
Put another way:

Protocol is commonly described as a set of international courtesy rules. These well-established and time-honored rules have made it easier for nations and people to live and work together. Part of protocol has always been the acknowledgment of the hierarchical standing of all present. Protocol rules are based on the principles of civility.

—Dr. P.M. Forni on behalf of the International Association of Protocol Consultants.

One might find it odd that I created a thread asking who Mr. Ensenat is, and yet my first two references are from wikipedia. Why not just look up his wikipedia page?
Well I did... in its entirety:

Donald Ensenat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Donald B. Ensenat (born February 4, 1946), a United States diplomat. Retired in 2007 from a position as United States Chief of Protocol at the Department of State.
Contents [hide]
1 Personal
2 Education
3 Career
4 External links
[edit]Personal

Ensenat is a native of Louisiana.
[edit]Education

Ensenat is a graduate of the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans and Yale University. At the latter institution, he was a roommate of George W. Bush at Yale College.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Ensenat served as a US military reservist. .
[edit]Career

Ensenat is a lawyer, and formerly served as US Ambassador to Brunei.

Seems to be a bit lacking in information if you ask me. But perhaps I am not alone in 'not knowing' who this man is. Maybe there is no information to be found on the former Ambassador and Chief of Protocol.

But someone knows something...

Ambassador Donald Burnham Ensenat was sworn in as Chief of Protocol on June 6, 2001.
Ambassador Ensenat was born and raised in New Orleans. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1968 and his law degree from Tulane University in 1973. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1968 to 1974.

In addition to an active international and maritime law practice in New Orleans since 1974, he has served in the U.S. Government on five previous tours. He was Legislative Assistant to Congressman Hale Boggs, the Majority Whip -- later Majority Leader -- of the U.S. House of Representatives (1969-70); first Legislative Assistant to Congresswoman Lindy Boggs after election to her husband’s seat following his untimely death in an Alaska air crash (1973-74); and Assistant Attorney General of Louisiana in charge of federal court and Louisiana Supreme Court litigation (1975-80). In 1989, President George Bush appointed him, with Senate confirmation, to the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) on which he served until 1992; from 1992 to 1993 he was U.S. Ambassador to Brunei, the wealthy sultanate in South East Asia that is a small but influential member of the South East Asian political grouping ASEAN, and of APEC, the economic forum of the Pacific Rim nations.

Mr. Ensenat also has been active in his community. He is a past President and a past Chairman of the 2,200-member World Trade Center of New Orleans, the original of now over 300 World Trade Centers around the world. He has served on its Board of Directors since 1985 and on its Executive Committee since 1991. Other civic activities include the Council of American Ambassadors; the Asia Society; the Yale Alumni Association of Louisiana (President, 1985–1987; Chair, Yale Admissions Committee, 1988-2001). He has also served as an officer or board member of multiple professional, charitable, and political organizations, including in 2000 as Chair of President George W. Bush’s presidential election campaign in Louisiana.

kkk

Also from that same page, which vaguely resembles a news story...

Donald Ensenat, who recently left the job as U.S. chief of protocol, likes to tell people that the position dates to ancient Greece.

The term "proto" meant first and "collon" meant glued, a reference to the written summaries Greek diplomats attached to the outside of their dispatches. In six years in the job, Ensenat gave the old term a new twist: More than any other protocol chief in memory, Ensenat was glued to the president's side.

caption: Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Donald Ensenat,
Phi '68, introduces the Ambassador of the Kingdom
of Tonga and her daughter to his pledge brother
and U.S. President George Bush, Phi '68, in the
Oval Office during a credentialing ceremony
at the White House.

I am going to further investigate this man, and how his appointment due to connections as college buddy to our President, may have been one of the gravest diplomatic policies in the history of the United States.

Please help in unearthing more information.
DocMoreau

www.pattonboggs.com...

PRESS RELEASES

Ambassador Donald Ensenat Joins Patton Boggs LLP
July 19, 2007

Washington, D.C., July 19 - Patton Boggs LLP is pleased to announce that Ambassador Donald Ensenat has joined the firm as Of Counsel in the Washington, D.C. office. He most recently served as United States Chief of Protocol at the White House and the U.S. State Department from 2001 to 2007, where he hosted foreign leaders visiting the President and his Administration, accompanied the President on his overseas visits, and was personal representative to the Ambassadors and Diplomatic Corps resident in Washington.

Drawing from his extensive background working in the U.S. Federal Government and on his private practice experience, Ambassador Ensenat will advise and assist clients on a broad range of international matters.

“Ambassador Ensenat’s knowledge and experience working within the international community will undoubtedly bolster our service to our public policy and trade clients,” said Stuart M. Pape, Managing Partner. “His arrival is a testament to our continuously expanding global presence, and we are fortunate to have such a seasoned practitioner on board to provide valuable counsel.”

His government experience also includes service as the U.S. Ambassador to Brunei, and a President-nominated and Senate-confirmed appointment to the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). He also was Assistant Attorney General of Louisiana in charge of federal court and Louisiana Supreme Court litigation, and Legislative Assistant to Congressman Hale Boggs and Congresswoman Lindy Boggs. He has served as an officer or board member of multiple professional, charitable, and political organizations, including as Chair of President George W. Bush’s presidential election campaign in Louisiana.

Ambassador Ensenat currently is on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the World Trade Center of New Orleans. He is a member of the Council of American Ambassadors and the Asia Society, and was previously a Yale Alumni Associate of Louisiana, serving as President from 1985 to 1987, as well as acting as Chair of Yale Admissions Committee from 1988 to 2001.

He graduated from Tulane University Law School, earning a J.D. in 1973. He also attended Yale University, graduating with a B.A. in 1968.

Sorry, somehow I neglected to mention that Enzo has a new job.
It is amazing to me that I have never heard of him until today.

It is not like I have been living under a rock.
DocMoreau

Edit to add:
Patton Boggs LLP

History

According to its website, the firm was founded in 1962 by James R. Patton, Jr and joined soon after by George Blow and then Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr. Again according to the website, it has "participated in the formation of every major multilateral trade agreement considered by Congress."[1] Notable associates have included John Breaux, former Democratic U.S. Senator and Representative from Louisiana, and Benjamin Ginsberg, former national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee and National Republican Congressional Committee.

Notable clients

Patton Boggs has lobbied on behalf of the dietary supplement company Metabolife International. According to Associated Press, "Patton Boggs earned millions helping project reassurances to Congress and its customers that Metabolife products were safe. Patton Boggs attorneys helped prepare carefully worded responses to regulators. Between 2001 and this year, Metabolife paid Patton Boggs $1.8 million to lobby Congress."[2]

Patton Boggs' work for Metabolife has resulted in legal scrutiny: "One former and four current Patton Boggs attorneys were subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in San Diego, court documents say. Prosecutors allege company founder Michael Ellis lied about Metabolife's safety record in a 1998 letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which documents say Patton Boggs attorneys helped draft. ... In mid 2002, Patton Boggs lobbyist Lanny Davis wrote a senator whose subcommittee was investigating Metabolife that the company had received only 78 'unproven, anecdotal allegations' of strokes, heart attacks, seizures and deaths." Company documents released just one week later revealed that the number of health complaints actually numbered in the thousands.[2]

According to the Haitian newspaper "Le Nouvelliste"[3] Patton Boggs was hired in 2007 by the Vicini family, one of the most influential and wealthiest families in the Dominican Republic, to prevent the screening of the documentary The Price of Sugar which depicts the living conditions of Haitian immigrant workers on the family's sugar plantations as well as death threats against Christopher Hartley, a Catholic priest working on behalf of the Haitian immigrants.

[edit on 24/7/2008 by DocMoreau]

[edit on 24/7/2008 by DocMoreau]

From August 1999...
www.rollingstone.com...

George W. steered clear of the famous anti-war protests there. He majored in history, but he couldn't match his father's Phi Beta Kappa performance. One friend comments that he "didn't set the place on fire" but fell into "that broad middle." Actually, Bush was too busy partying to study. Later, more than one friend would compare him to Otter in Animal House. Not only did he join Delta Kappa Epsilon, but he was elected president. Naturally, he wasn't averse to drinking. "Let's just say, liquor was permitted in the fraternity house," says Donald Ensenat, one of Bush's friends at Yale, "and George W. had a good time." Lanny Davis concurs: "We were fraternity brothers, so we went to parties frequently. In all of the times I saw George partying -- and we were not known for bashful parties -- he was always just drinking and dancing and having lots of fun. I never saw him lose control."

Enzo sure hasn't said much of public note. You would think that this is not his finest quote.

If we only knew then what we know now. Wow. August 1999 feels like 20 years ago.
DocMoreau

www.opensecrets.org...

2007- Patton Boggs LLP
Revolving Door Personnel: (109) Of Counsel
2001-2007 Dept of State
Revolving Door Personnel: (141) Chief of Protocal
Firm lobbying profile
1992-1993 US Diplomatic Missions
Revolving Door Personnel: (63) Ambassador to Brunei
1989-1992 Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Revolving Door Personnel: (12) Board Member
Agency lobbying profile
1975-1980 State of Louisiana
Revolving Door Personnel: (3) Asst Attorney General
1973-1974 Boggs, Lindy
Revolving Door Personnel: (3) Legislative Asst
Member profile

I wonder what Enzo was doing between 1980-1989 or from 1993-2001.

It is nice to know that one can just 'revolve' from lobbyist to ambassador and the like.
DocMoreau