U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said he is not aware whether Robert Ford, Matt Bryza, Frank Ricciardone and Norm Eisen, who were appointed by President Barack Obama late last year as ambassadors to Syria, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Czech Republic, have been sworn in yet.

“I think they’ll be going through some consultations here at the State Department in the next couple of weeks before they deploy to post,” Crowley told a daily press briefing.

President Barack Obama took the rare step of temporarily appointing the ambassadors on December 30, 2010.

The White House announced Obama made "recess appointments" of Robert Stephen Ford as ambassador to Syria, Francis "Frank" Ricciardone as ambassador to Turkey and Matthew Bryza as ambassador to Azerbaijan. All three are career diplomats whose nominations would ordinarily be expected to move through the U.S. Senate - which under the Constitution has the right to reject the president's nominations - without controversy.