It’s been a busy week for Norway’s defense minister, who not only welcomed another British aircraft carrier but also a new US envoy. Both were delayed into Oslo for various reasons, and the new US ambassador traveled quickly on to Norway’s border area in the far north.
Norway hasn’t had an American ambassador since Donald Trump won the last US presidential election. The US Embassy in Oslo has been led by career diplomats as charge d’affaires until the Kirkenes-based Barents Observer (external link) reported the arrival late last week of Michael Kavoukjian. He kept a low profile after formally delivering his credentials to King Haakon VIII and then immediately flying north to Kirkenes, accompanied by Norwegian Defense Minister Tore O Sandvik, a state secretary in the foreign ministry and the new head of the Norwegian Army.
Kavoukjian, a lawyer and former CIA officer, was said to be “unavailable” to the media during his visit to Kirkenes and the border area. He did meet, however, with Kirkenes Mayor Magnus Mæland, who’s had to deal with all the renewed local tensions with Russia. Mæland told the Barents Observer that the new US envoy “was clearly interested in both the geo-political and geo-economic realities” facing Kirkenes, and is expected to be “an important partner” for the area.
The US Embassy in Oslo stated that Kavoukjian’s trip reflects his “commitment to further strengthen cooperation with Norway on defense and security issues, with particular attention to the activities of adversaries in the Arctic.” The trip was also said to be “the first of many” he’ll make “to the High North and across Norway.”
Kavoukjian was nominated to the ambassador’s post by US President Donald Trump more than a year ago but the process took time. The New York Times has reported that like most ambassadorial appointees, Kavoukjian had contributed heavily to Trump’s election campaign in 2024 and earlier to other Republican candidates. Given Trump’s recent derogatory statements about Norway, the new ambassador may face challenges to “identify new ways to advance our shared priorities,” as the embassy wrote on its website.
In addition to serving as an “operations officer” in the Directorate of Operations at the CIA, the new US ambassador is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a senior partner in the legal firm White & Case LLP’s Global Litigation Group and was born and raised in Minnesota as the son of a Norwegian immigrant mother from Lofoten. His mother’s brother reportedly served in the OSS during World War II, working with the Norwegian resistance.
“This background will facilitate building relationships in Norway as ambassador,” stated a report for the United States Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations aimed at demonstrating Kavoukjian’s competence for the ambassador’s post. He also has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in California and graduated from the Harvard Law School.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Tore O Sandvik was serving as the new US ambassador’s host in Northern Norway and checking out some of the new NASAMS radar systems that have recently added to defense in the northern county of Finnmark. NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems) are an important part of Ukraine’s defense against Russia and now needed in Norway as well.
Sandvik be back in Oslo next week to attend the security conference on board the HMS Prince of Wales, which sailed up the Oslo Fjord after training with Norwegian forces in and around Namsos in Trøndelag. The large vessel with its crew of 700 currently on board is the latest in a string of British- and US aircraft carriers to visit Oslo and sail off the Norwegian coast as part of defense preparedness and allied cooperation.
The Prince of Wales, measuring 284 meters long and 73 meters wide, spent six days in the Namsos area and will now be berthed in Oslo at least through Thursday, when the Atlantic Future Forum wraps up its international summit for defense, security and technology leaders. The forum is led by the UK government, hosted by the Royal Navy and co-organized with the defense industry.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
