Ambassador

An Ambassador is the official diplomatic representative of one government or political entity to another, or to an organization of political entities. Ambassadors also function as the heads of embassies and are formally appointed by either the Federation Council President, or the Federation Council.

If an Ambassador functions at an embassy or consulate they need to present a letter of credence to the host head of government. A Letter of Credence is a formal letter sent by one head of government to another formally accrediting a named individual (usually but not always a diplomat) to be their Ambassador in the country of the head of state receiving the letter of credence. A Letter of Recall is the letter sent recalling an ambassador, either as a means of diplomatic protest or because the diplomat is being reassigned elsewhere and replaced by another envoy.

To distracted Starfleet officers assigned to escort Federation diplomats hither and yon in the Quadrant, it seems like everyone is an ambassador. Part of the confusion comes from the number of titles any given diplomat might claim at any time, and the rest stems from the Federation's nature as a collection of sovereign planets. For example, the head of the Cestus III delegation to the Federation Council is termed the Ambassador from Cestus III to the Federation, or colloquially, the Cestine Ambassador. Similarly, a Bolian diplomat set from Bolarus IX to negotiate with an independent planet such as Kaferia is the Bolian Ambassador to Kaferia, and also referred to as "Ambassador." The Federation as a whole may also commission ambassadors to foreign cultures such as the Acamarians. In most Federation diplomatic circles, the Ambassador to the Federation is the most important Ambassador from the planet (sometimes referred to as the Chief Ambassador). Thus, virtually all members of the Federation Council, even humans, hold ambassadorial rank: during the Dominion War, Michaela Marshall was technically the Ambassador from the United Earth Republic to the Federation, and therefore was subordinate to President Chang-Lewis of Earth (not to be confused with the President of the Federation, a different position), even though she wielded far more power than he did in Federation affairs. Ambassador is also a rank in the Federation Diplomatic Service (as well as the diplomatic services of other governments) roughly equivalent to Captain's rank in Starfleet. Thus, Sarek of Vulcan rose through the ranks of the Vulcan diplomatic service to the rank of Ambassador, became Vulcan Ambassador to the Federation, and concluded his career as Federation Ambassador to the Legarans. Finally, just as an Ensign in command of a ship is referred to as the ship's "captain" in Starfleet terminology, the diplomat in charge of any mission, no matter how junior, is referred to as the "ambassador."