President, Barbour Griffith & Rogers International
Ambassador Blackwill joined Barbour Griffith & Rogers in November 2004 after serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning under President George W. Bush. In this position, Ambassador Blackwill was responsible for government-wide policy planning to help develop and coordinate the mid- and long-term direction of American foreign policy. Bob also served as Presidential Envoy to Iraq, was the Administration’s Coordinator for U.S. policies regarding Afghanistan and Iran, and traveled on Air Force One with the President in the latter stages of the 2004 Presidential campaign.
Ambassador Blackwill went to the National Security Council after having been U.S. Ambassador to India. Nominated and appointed by President George W. Bush, he assumed his position as the American Ambassador to the Republic of India on July 27, 2001 and completed his tenure on July 30, 2003. Prior to that, Blackwill was the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. During his 14 years as a Harvard faculty member, he was Associate Dean of the Kennedy School, taught foreign and defense policy and public policy analysis, and directed executive training programs for business and government leaders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Palestinian Authority, Israel and Kazakhstan, as well as General Officers from Russia and the People’s Republic of China.
From 1989 to 1990, Ambassador Blackwill was Special Assistant to President George Bush for European and Soviet Affairs, during which time he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany for his contribution to German unification. 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. The author and editor of many books and articles on Transatlantic relations, Russia and the West, the Greater Middle East and Asian security, he is Counselor to the Council on Foreign Relations, a Trustee of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and on the Boards of the Nixon Center and Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
