Ambassador de Brichambaut started his career at the Conseil d'Etat, first as an administrative judge, later as Conseiller d'Etat. In 1978, he was posted to New York to work as Special Assistant to the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for International Economic and Social Affairs. He returned to Paris in 1981, where he became an adviser to French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson. In 1983 - 1984, he was Chief of Staff to Roland Dumas, then Minister of European Affairs. When Mr. Dumas became Foreign Minister, Amb. de Brichambaut continued to serve as his Chief of Staff. In 1986, he moved to New York, as Cultural Counsellor for the French Embassy, returning to Paris in 1988 as Principal Adviser to Defence Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement. From 1991 to 1994, Ambassador de Brichambaut represented France as Head of Delegation at the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in Vienna, which in due course became the OSCE. From 1994 to 1998, he headed the French Foreign Ministry's Legal Division. His most recent post prior to his appointment as OSCE Secretary General was as Director for Strategic Affairs at the French Defence Ministry from 1998.