He was a Foreign Area Officer, selected and trained for relevant education, language, and cultural knowledge related to a particular region. The duties are advisor and LNO. That specialty has nothing at all to do with US politics.

What is a FAO?

A Foreign Area Officer (FAO) is a commissioned officer from any of the four branches of the United States armed forces who are regionally-focused experts in political-military operations possessing a unique combination of strategic focus, regional expertise, with political, cultural, sociological, economic, and geographic awareness, and foreign language proficiency in at least one of the dominant languages in their specified region. An FAO will typically serve overseas tours as a defense attaché, a security assistance officer, or as a political-military planner in a service's headquarters, Joint Staff, Major Commands, Unified Combatant Commands, or in agencies of the Department of Defense. They also serve as arms control specialists, country desk officers, liaison officers, and Personal Exchange Program officers to host nations or coalition allies. Roles and responsibilities of FAOs are extensive and varied. They advise senior leaders on political-military operations and relations with other nations, provide cultural expertise to forward-deployed commands conducting military operations, build and maintain long-term relationships with foreign leaders, develop and coordinate security cooperation, execute security assistance programs with host nations, and develop reports on diplomatic, information, military, and economic activities. Each branch has its own process for developing Foreign Area Officers to address their specific needs

3. DEFINITIONS
3.1. Foreign Area Officers (FAOs). Commissioned officers who possess a broad range of military skills and experiences; qualification in their primary military occupational specialty and/or designator; graduate-level or equivalent education focusing on, but not limited to, the historical, political, diplomatic, military/security, cultural, sociological, scientific, economic, and geographic factors of specific foreign countries and regions; in-country/regional experience involving significant interaction with host nationals and host-nation entities in the foreign countries or regions in which they specialize; and proficiency in one or more of the predominant languages in their regions of expertise (with the goal of attaining professional-level proficiency). FAOs serve in Service, Joint, and Interagency assignments that involve significant interaction with foreign governments and their militaries, host nationals, host-nation entities, and/or international organizations, often in the foreign countries or regions in which they specialize; provide regional expertise from the political-military and strategic perspectives for planning and executing operations; observe and report on international military issues; serve in liaison, attaché/military-diplomat, and representational roles to other nations; serve as arms control inspectors; and oversee military security assistance