R. Nicholas Burns

Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School

Nicholas Burns is professor of the practice of diplomacy and international politics at Harvard Kennedy School, where he created and directs the school's Future of Diplomacy Project, and is faculty chair for the Middle East and South Asia. He also writes foreign policy columns for the Boston Globe and Global Post and is a noted lecturer on U.S. foreign policy. He is director of the non-partisan Aspen Strategy Group and serves on many non-profit boards. Prior to Harvard, Ambassador Burns served in the U.S. Foreign Service. He was under secretary of state for political affairs, the Department of State's third ranking official, from 2005-2008, when he led negotiations on the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, a military assistance agreement with Israel and Iran's nuclear programs. He was also U.S. ambassador to NATO for President George W. Bush, to Greece for President Clinton, and state department spokesman for Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright. He worked at the National Security Council 1990-95 on Soviet and then Russian affairs for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He is based in Cambridge, MA.