"It's a fascinating and fun job, but my first day on Tuesday, was quite a day," [Kurt Volker] said Thursday in a telephone interview from his office in Brussels, Belgium. "On Monday, I wasn't able to fly straight into Brussels, so I flew from Washington, D.C. to Amsterdam. Then on Tuesday morning, I was picked up in a car and driven two and half hours to Brussels."

Volker is also a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service and for four years was acting senior director for European and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council. While at the NSC, Volker was responsible for U.S. preparations for two NATO summits in 2004 and 2002. He also helped launch NATO operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, bring in seven new NATO members, and strengthen NATO-Russia relations.

In a letter read to Hatboro Borough's Council on Monday, Volker made a written request to have the quilt that hangs in Borough Hall be sent to his residence in Brussels as part of the state department's "Art in Embassies" program. The initiative, started in 1964, is described as "a global museum that exhibits original works of art by U.S. citizens in the public rooms of approximately 180 American diplomatic residences worldwide."