We turn first to the term “agency or instrumentality of a foreign state,” §1603(b). It is true that an individual official could be an “agency or instrumentality,” if that term is given the meaning of “any thing or person through which action is accomplished,” In re Terrorist Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, 538 F. 3d 71, 83 (CA2 2008). But Congress has specifically defined “agency or instrumentality” in the FSIA, and all of the textual clues in that definition cut against such a broad construction.

[44] First, the statute specifies that ” ‘agency or instrumentality . . .’ means any entity” matching three specified characteristics, §1603(b) (emphasis added), and “entity” typically refers to an organization, rather than an individual. See, e.g., Black’s Law Dictionary 612 (9th ed. 2009). Furthermore, several of the required characteristics apply awkwardly, if at all, to individuals. The phrase “separate legal person, corporate or otherwise,” §1603(b)(1), could conceivably refer to a natural person, solely by virtue of the word “person.” But the phrase “separate legal person” typically refers to the legal fiction that allows an entity to hold personhood separate from the natural persons who are its shareholders or officers. Cf. First Nat. City Bank v. Banco Para el Comercio Exterior de Cuba, 462 U. S. 611, 625 (1983) (“Separate legal personality has been described as ‘an almost indispensable aspect of the public corporation’ “). It is similarly awkward to refer to a person as an “organ” of the foreign state. See §1603(b)(2). And the third part of the definition could not be applied at all to a natural person. A natural person cannot be a citizen of a State “as defined in section 1332(c) and (e),” §1603(b)(3), because those subsections refer to the citizenship of corporations and estates. Nor can a natural person be “created under the laws of any third country.” Ibid.*fn8 Thus, the terms Congress chose simply do not evidence the intent to include individual officials within the meaning of “agency or instrumentality.”*fn9

Cf. Dole Food Co. v. Patrickson, 538 U. S. 468, 474 (2003) (describing §1603(b) as containing “indicia that Congress had corporate formalities in mind”).
[45] Petitioner proposes a second textual route to including an official within the meaning of “foreign state.” He argues that the definition of “foreign state” in §1603(a) sets out a nonexhaustive list that “includes” political subdivisions and agencies or instrumentalities but is not so limited. See Brief for Petitioner 22–23. It is true that use of the word “include” can signal that the list that follows is meant to be illustrative rather than exhaustive.*fn10 And, to be sure, there are fewer textual clues within §1603(a) than within §1603(b) from which to interpret Congress’ silence regarding foreign officials. But even if the list in §1603(a) is merely illustrative, it still suggests that “foreign state” does not encompass officials, because the types of defendants listed are all entities. See Russell Motor Car Co. v. United States, 261 U. S. 514, 519 (1923) (“[A] word may be known by the company it keeps”).

[46] Moreover, elsewhere in the FSIA Congress expressly mentioned officials when it wished to count their acts as equivalent to those of the foreign state, which suggests that officials are not included within the unadorned term “foreign state.” Cf. Kimbrough v. United States, 552 U. S. 85, 103 (2007) (“Drawing meaning from silence is particularly inappropriate . . . [when] Congress has shown that it knows how to [address an issue] in express terms”). For example, Congress provided an exception from the general grant of immunity for cases in which “money damages are sought against a foreign state” for an injury in the United States “caused by the tortious act or omission of that foreign state or of any official or employee of that foreign state while acting within the scope of his office.” §1605(a)(5) (emphasis added). The same reference to officials is made in a similar, later enacted exception. See 28 U. S. C. A. §1605A(a)(1) (Supp. 2009) (eliminating immunity for suits “in which money damages are sought against a foreign state” for certain acts “engaged in by an official, employee, or agent of such foreign state while acting within the scope of his or her office, employment, or agency”); see also §1605A(c) (creating a cause of action against the “foreign state” and “any official, employee, or agent” thereof).*fn11 If the term “foreign state” by definition includes an individual acting within the scope of his office, the phrase “or of any official or employee . . .” in 28 U. S. C. §1605(a)(5) would be unnecessary. See Dole Food Co., 538 U. S., at 476–477 (“[W]e should not construe the statute in a manner that is strained and, at the same time, would render a statutory term superfluous”).

[47] Other provisions of the statute also point away from reading “foreign state” to include foreign officials. Congress made no express mention of service of process on individuals in §1608(a), which governs service upon a foreign state or political subdivision. Although some of the methods listed could be used to serve individuals-for example, by delivery “in accordance with an applicable international convention,” §1608(a)(2)-the methods specified are at best very roundabout ways of serving an individual official. Furthermore, Congress made specific remedial choices for different types of defendants. See §1606 (allowing punitive damages for an agency or instrumentality but not for a foreign state); §1610 (affording a plaintiff greater rights to attach the property of an agency or instrumentality as compared to the property of a foreign state). By adopting petitioner’s reading of “foreign state,” we would subject claims against officials to the more limited remedies available in suits against states, without so much as a whisper from Congress on the subject. (And if we were instead to adopt petitioner’s other textual argument, we would subject those claims to the different, more expansive, remedial scheme for agencies). The Act’s careful calibration of remedies among the listed types of defendants suggests that Congress did not mean to cover other types of defendants never mentioned in the text.

[48] In sum, “[w]e do not . . . construe statutory phrases in isolation; we read statutes as a whole.” United States v. Morton, 467 U. S. 822, 828 (1984). Reading the FSIA as a whole, there is nothing to suggest we should read “foreign state” in §1603(a) to include an official acting on behalf of the foreign state, and much to indicate that this meaning was not what Congress enacted.*fn12 The text does not expressly foreclose petitioner’s reading, but it supports the view of respondents and the United States that the Act does not address an official’s claim to immunity. Samantar v. Yousuf, 2010.SCT.0000086< http://www.versuslaw.com>¶ 43-48; No. 08-1555 (2010).

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