Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill is the Henry A. Kissinger senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, and a distinguished scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C. He is a former deputy national security advisor at the White House where he has worked for three presidents, presidential envoy to Iraq, and U.S. ambassador to India.
He received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution to German unification, and the Padma Bhushan Award from the government of India for distinguished service of a high order.
A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi and Harvard University faculty member for 14 years, he is the author of many books and articles. His latest book, “War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft,” published by Harvard University Press, was named a best foreign policy book of 2016 by Foreign Affairs.
He is a jazz enthusiast with more than 10,000 songs in his collection, and an amateur landscape photographer.