A station chief is a government official who is the head of a team, post or function usually in a foreign country. Historically it commonly referred to the head of a defensible structure such as an ambassador's residence or colonial outpost. In Germany a Stationsleiter (station leader) was the government's chief representative in a colonial possession such as the South Sea Islands. It may also be used to refer to the manager of remote scientific stations such as those in the Antarctic and  Jarvis Island, an uninhabited minor U.S. Pacific island possession.