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Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill

International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Experience

Ambassador Blackwill joined Barbour Griffith & Rogers in November 2004 after serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning under President George W. Bush.  In this position, Ambassador Blackwill was responsible for government-wide policy planning operations to help develop and coordinate the mid- and long-term direction of U.S. foreign policy.  He also served as Presidential Envoy to Iraq, was the Administration’s Coodinator for U.S. policies regarding Afghanistan and Iran, and traveled on Air Force One with the President in the latter stages of the 2004 Presidential campaign.

Ambassador Blackwill went to the National Security Council after having served as the U.S. Ambassador to India.  Nominated and appointed by President George W. Bush, he assumed his position as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of India on July 27, 2001, and completed his tenure on July 30, 2003.  Prior to serving as Ambassador to India, Blackwill was the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.  During his fourteen years as a Harvard faculty member, he was Associate Dean of the Kennedy School and directed executive training programs for business and government leaders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel, as well as General Officers from Russia and the People’s Republic of China. 

From 1989–1990, Ambassador Blackwill served as Special Assistant to President George H.W. Bush for European and Soviet Affairs, during which time he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution to German unification.   Earlier in his career, he was the U.S. Ambassador to conventional arms negotiations with the Warsaw Pact, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs. The author of many books and articles on international security, he is Counselor to the Council on Foreign Relations and on the Boards of the Nixon Center and Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.