Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs Appoints Robert Blackwill as Distinguished Scholar
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 1, 2018
The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is pleased to announce that Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill will join the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs as the Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar. In this role, Ambassador Blackwill will help to further develop and contribute to the center’s academic research and curricular offerings while also mentoring students in their academic and professional pursuits.
Commenting on the appointment, Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, the 56th U.S. Secretary of State, said, “Robert Blackwill has been a trusted friend and advisor for decades. He has made extraordinary contributions to both national security policy and scholarship and teaching of geopolitics and grand strategy. I am delighted he is joining the Kissinger Center.”
Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and Director of the Kissinger Center, Francis J. Gavin added, “We are excited to welcome Ambassador Robert Blackwill to the Kissinger Center. Our students and faculty will undoubtedly benefit from his wealth of experience and knowledge, derived from a career at the highest levels of government service and academia.”
Ambassador Blackwill is also the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He formally served as the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for strategic planning under President George W. Bush. His current work focuses on U.S. foreign policy writ large as well as on China, Russia, the Middle East, South Asia, and geoeconomics.
Ambassador Blackwill was a senior fellow at the RAND Corporation from 2008 to 2010 and President of BGR International from 2004 to 2008. During his time in the Bush administration, Blackwill was responsible for government-wide policy planning to help develop and coordinate the mid- and long-term direction of U.S. foreign policy. He served as presidential envoy to Iraq and was the administration’s coordinator for U.S. policies regarding Afghanistan and Iran. Blackwill went to the National Security Council (NSC) after serving as the U.S. ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003.
Prior to joining the administration, Ambassador Blackwill was the Belfer lecturer in international security at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where he also served as associate dean. During his 14 years as a Harvard faculty member at the Kennedy School he taught foreign policy, defense policy and public policy analysis.
Earlier in his career, he was special assistant to President George H.W. Bush for European and Soviet affairs, during which he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution to German unification; U.S. ambassador to conventional arms negotiations with the Warsaw Pact; director for European affairs at the NSC; principal deputy assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs; and principal deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs.
Blackwill is an author and editor of many articles and books on transatlantic relations, Russia and the West, the Greater Middle East, and Asian security. His most recent publications include Containing Russia: How to Respond to Moscow’s Intervention in U.S. Democracy and Growing Geopolitical Challenge (January 2018) and War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft (Harvard University Press, April 2016) which was named one of the best foreign policy books of 2016 by Foreign Affairs.
Media Contact
Nate Thompson
Johns Hopkins SAIS
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About Johns Hopkins SAIS
A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today’s critical issues. For 75 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school’s interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world today.
For more information, visit sais-jhu.edu or @SAISHopkins
About the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs
Established in 2016, the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS hosts a distinguished faculty working to advance research in historically-informed strategy and statecraft.
For more information, visit kissinger.sais-jhu.edu or @KissingerCenter
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