David T. Killion (born September 25, 1966) is an American government official and diplomat, appointed in 2009 by President Barack Obama to serve as the United States Permanent Representative to UNESCO, with the rank of Ambassador.

degrees in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles, Killion worked as a congressional legislative staffer.

His areas of responsibility managing congressional relations included Human Rights, Democracy, War Crimes, Women’s Issues, Oceans, and Environment and Science.

During his service as Senior Professional Staff Member for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, David Killion worked to ease passage of legislation to allow the re-entry of the U.S. into UNESCO.

Soon after arriving in Paris in 2009, Killion was widely credited for his energetic role in preventing the Director-Generalship of UNESCO from going to the controversial artist and Mubarak-era Egyptian Cultural Minister Farouk Hosni.

[22] He also facilitated Marcus Miller's nomination as UNESCO Artist for Peace and Spokesperson for the Slave Route Project, including by hosting his Inducation Ceremony.

UNESCO's Director-General, Irina Bokova, joined Ambassador Killion in opposing the award;[25] the U.S. considers Equatorial Guinea under President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo to be a dictatorship with an egregious record of human rights violations.

Killion is credited with brokering, in cooperation with Russia and Israel, a breakthrough agreement on cultural heritage in the Middle East in April 2013.