Press Release
Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director of the Preventive Defense Project, was recently invited to become a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD). An association of former ambassadors and senior level diplomats, the Academy emphasizes the importance of diplomacy and aims to improve the practice of American foreign policy. The Academy was founded in 1983 by Ambassadors Ellsworth Bunker and U. Alexis Johnson, and is currently chaired by Thomas Pickering.
AAD’s outreach programs, lectures, awards, publications, and writing competitions all serve to strengthen the United States’ diplomatic tools and resources. The Academy also has specific programs that analyze particular components of diplomacy, including: Diplomacy and Democracy, Foreign Affairs Budget of the Future, Diplomacy and Terrorism, Genocide Prevention Task Force, and Integrating Instruments of Power and Diplomacy.
Members are selected based on their demonstrated accomplishments, sustained performance, continued engagement in foreign affairs, and balanced geographic and functional expertise. (Current employees of the United States government are not eligible for active membership.)
Dr. Carter was invited to join AAD based on his continued contributions to American diplomacy, particularly his work on denuclearization of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus; his negotiations with the North Koreans, and his chairmanship of the NATO High Level Group.
As Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy (1993-1996), Carter’s was instrumental in removing all nuclear weapons from the territories of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. He also directed the establishment of defense and intelligence relationships with the countries of the former Soviet Union when the Cold War ended, and later participated in the negotiations that led to the deployment of Russian troops as part of the Bosnia Peace Plan Implementation Force. He further served as chairman of NATO’s High Level Group.
During his time at the Pentagon, Carter managed the multi-billion dollar Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn-Lugar) program to support elimination of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of the former Soviet Union, including the secret removal of 600 kilograms of highly enriched uranium from Kazakhstan in the operation code-named Project Sapphire. Carter also directed the Nuclear Posture Review, oversaw the Department of Defense’s (DOD's) Counterproliferation Initiative, and directed the reform of DOD’s national security export controls.
Carter directed the United States’ military planning during the 1994 crisis over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and he has continued to provide valuable assessments and recommendations of the North Korean nuclear weapons program, and served as Deputy U.S. Policy Advisor on North Korea from 1998 through 2000. As Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, Carter’s arms control responsibilities included the agreement freezing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, the extension of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the negotiation of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and matters involving the START II, ABM, CFE, and other arms control treaties.
Carter will formally join the Academy in late spring of 2009. More information about the Academy is available here.