James Francis Moriarty[1] (born 1953) is a United States diplomat and career foreign service officer with the rank of Minister-Counselor.

[4] Following two years of Chinese language training, Moriarty served as Deputy Chief of the political section at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

He received the American Foreign Service Association’s Rivkin Award for his principled approach to the breakup of Yugoslavia.

[6] After taking a third year of Chinese language training,[2] Moriarty led the General Affairs (Political) Section at the American Institute in Taiwan from 1994 to 1998.

He served in 2002–2004 as Special Assistant to the President of the United States of America and senior director at the National Security Council.

[6] After Taiwan passed the Referendum Act in late 2003, Moriarty flew to Taipei to deliver to President Chen Shui-bian a personal letter from President George W. Bush opposing any change to the status quo by the holding of a Taiwanese independence referendum.

Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona placed a hold on Moriarty's confirmation, alleging that while at the National Security Council, he had delayed a sale of radar equipment to Taiwan.

Moriarty had pushed through a procedural change for major decisions regarding Taiwan, but his supporters said it was not intended to delay approval.