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home > the cfr think tank > experts > robert d. blackwill
Counselor
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9888
Former deputy assistant to the President, deputy national security adviser for strategic planning, and presidential envoy to Iraq. U.S. Ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003.
Expertise:Transatlantic relations; the United States and Asia; Russia and the West; the United States and the Middle East.
Experience:Prior to joining the Council, Ambassador Blackwill served as deputy assistant to the president, deputy national security adviser for strategic planning, and presidential envoy to Iraq under President George W. Bush. In these positions, he was responsible for government-wide policy planning operations to help develop and coordinate the mid- and long-term direction of American foreign policy. He also had particular responsibility for assisting in the formulation and implementation of U.S. policies on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran. Before joining the National Security Council, Blackwill served as U.S. ambassador to India from 2001 to 2003. This posting followed 14 years at Harvard Univeristy's John F. Kennedy School of Government where Blackwill served as associate dean and the Belfer Lecturer in International Security. From 1989 to 1990, Blackwill served as special assistant to President George H.W. Bush for European and Soviet affairs. 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.
Honors:Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit, awarded by the Federal Republic of Germany (1990).
Selected Publications:The Future of Transatlantic Relations, Report of an Independent Task Force (Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1999); Allies Divided: Transatlantic Policies for the Greater Middle East (1997); Engaging Russia: Arms Control and the U.S.-Russian Relationship, Report of an Independent Task Force (Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1996).
Current Research Project
Past Research Project
December 6, 2007
| Author: | Robert D. Blackwill, Counselor |
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Op-Ed
Wall Street Journal
Robert D. Blackwill writes, "we are well along in a systemic decline in Russia's relations with the West. There is a familiar list of complaints from the industrial democracies regarding Moscow's actions, many of them justified. But most of Russia's contemporary offenses pale before what should be the West's highest policy priority — preventing Iran from possessing nuclear weapons."
See more in U.S. Strategy and Politics
February 23, 2006
| Speaker: | Robert D. Blackwill, President, Barbour Griffith & Rogers, International; Counselor, Council On Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Presider: | David B. Ensor, National Security Correspondent, CNN |
Transcript
Former U.S. Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill speaks on the eve of President Bush’s trip to India and Pakistan about the striking transformation of U.S.-India relations and prospects for a groundbreaking civilian nuclear deal.
December 12, 2005
| Speaker: | Robert D. Blackwill, President, Barbour Griffith & Rogers, International; counselor, Council on Foreign Relations |
|---|---|
| Presider: | David Ignatius, Columnist and associate editor, the Washington Post |
Transcript
See more in Iraq, Nation Building, Terrorism
December 12, 2005
| Speakers: | Robert D. Blackwill, President, Barbour Griffith & Rogers, International; Former Presidential Envoy to Iraq David Ignatius, Columnist and Associate Editor, The Washington Post |
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Audio
See more in Iraq, Nation Building, Civil Reconstruction
Summer 2005
| Author: | Robert D. Blackwill, Counselor |
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Must Read
The India Imperative by Robert D. Blackwill. National Interest, Summer 2005
What are the origins of the transformation of U.S.-Indian relations?
No bilateral relationship in George W. Bush's first term improved as much as that between the United States and India. The president has noted, "After years of estrangement, India and the United States together surrendered to reality. They recognized an unavoidable fact--they are destined to have a qualitatively different and better relationship than in the past." Some attribute the expansion in relations to the impact of 9/11. But this is not the case...
See more in South Asia, India, U.S. Strategy and Politics
February 14, 2005
Robert D. Blackwill, Counselor interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor
Interview
February 1999
Task Force Report No. 20
Task Force Report
Notable opportunities exist for the U.S.-European relationship to help mold the twenty-first century’s international system. Despite the absence of the Soviet threat, the two sides of the Atlantic continue to share enduring vital interests and face a common set of challenges both in Europe and beyond. These challenges are so many and diverse that neither the United States nor the allies can adequately address these regional and global concerns alone, especially in light of growing domestic constraints on the implementation of foreign policy. Thus, promoting shared interests and managing common threats to the West in the years ahead will necessitate not only continued cooperation, but a broader and more comprehensive transatlantic partnership than in the past.
See more in Western Europe, U.S. Strategy and Politics
January 1996
Task Force Report No. 9
Task Force Report
Five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States and Russia stand at a crossroads on arms control. Many of the arms control regimes established by Republican and Democratic administrations are under serious challenge in both countries, with the potential to damage U.S. security. With these concerns in mind, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom joined together to sponsor an independent Task Force on U.S.-Russian arms control. The Task Force brief was to assess current and evolving political-military circumstances and the arms control regimes, and to recommend a U.S. policy for the next 12 months. In effect, the Task Force was asked how Americans in particular should think about arms control in the wake of the Cold War’s end and its importance, how to preserve what was worth preserving, and how to change what might need to be changed.
See more in Russian Fed., Arms Control and Disarmament
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.
Complete list of CFR Books.
After two decades of liberalization, many countries around the world are adopting new restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI) that could retard continued progress. The authors make recommendations for correcting this protectionist drift by proposing guidelines for how countries can better regulate FDI yet still reap its economic benefits.
In this Council Special Report, the authors make a strong case that the Bush administration’s policy of diplomatic isolation of Syria is not serving U.S. interests, and offer informed history and thoughtful analysis of the country and its external behavior.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Gary Samore
Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1-212-434-9627
gsamore@cfr.org
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1-212-434-9753
jhill@cfr.org
The David Rockefeller Studies Program is the Council’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving the Council’s goal of contributing to the foreign policy debate. Fellows in the Studies Program do this by researching, writing, and commenting on the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.
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