Dennis Walter Hearne, a Senior Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State, was the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Mozambique from 23 February 2019 to 8 February 2022. He later assumed duties as Deputy Commandant of the U.S. National War College from March 2022 to July 2024.

Prior to arriving in Maputo in February 2019, he was Principal Deputy High Representative in the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he supported the General Framework Agreement for Peace (also known as the Dayton Agreement). Before arriving in Sarajevo in 2017 he was Deputy Chief of the United States Mission to Afghanistan. Prior to that he served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador Thomas A. Shannon. Ambassador Hearne was Foreign Policy Advisor to the United States Army Special Operations Command from 2012-2015, and served in Afghanistan from 2007-2009 as an advisor embedded in U.S. airborne infantry units in combat in the eastern provinces.

In an earlier conflict, he served in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1993-1996, and thereafter worked with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague, 1996-1998. He is also one of the Foreign Service’s most experienced officers in Brazil. He was the United States Consul General in Rio de Janeiro from 2009-2012, Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia from 2003-2007 and had other postings at the Embassy and in Sao Paulo. Other assignments included the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon and the State Department in Washington. A native of North Carolina, Ambassador Hearne entered the Foreign Service in 1985.

He has a Master of Science degree in national security strategy from the National War College and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wake Forest University. He speaks Portuguese and Croatian. He is a seven time recipient of the State Department’s Superior Honor Award and was decorated with the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by the United States Army.

Ambassador Hearne joined Spirit of America’s Advisory Board in 2024.