William Joseph Burns

Ambassador Burns entered the Foreign Service in 1982 and served as Deputy Secretary of State from 2011 until 2014. Previously, he served as Under Secretary for Political Affairs from 2008 until 2011. He was U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2005 until 2008, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2001 until 2005, and U.S. Ambassador to Jordan from 1998 until 2001. Before these, he was also Executive Secretary of the State Department and Special Assistant to Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright; Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow; Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff; and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council.

Burns, together with George Tenet was instrumental in forcing through the short-lived Israeli-Palestinian cease fire agreement of June 2001.[4][5] He played a leading role in the elimination of Libya's illicit weapons program, efforts to re-set relations with Russia early in the Obama Administration, and strengthening the strategic partnership with India.

In July 2002, Burns, along with Ryan Crocker and David Pearce, sent a memo to Secretary of State Colin Powell outlining the risks of regime change in Iraq. Burns wrote, "an effort to overthrow the regime in Baghdad could unravel if we're not careful, intersecting to create a 'perfect storm' for American interests."[6]

In 2013, Burns, along with Jake Sullivan, led the secret bilateral channel with Iran that led to a historic interim agreement between Iran and the P5+1, and ultimately the Iran nuclear deal.[7] Burns was reported to be "in the driver's seat" of the American negotiating team for the interim agreement. Burns had met secretly with Iranian officials as far back as 2008, when then-President George W. Bush dispatched him.[8]

A cable Burns signed as ambassador and released by WikiLeaks[9] describing "a high society wedding in the Caucasus -- complete with massive quantities of alcohol, lumps of gold and revolver-wielding drunkards" attended by President Ramzan Kadyrov,[10] received widespread international coverage, with historian Timothy Garton Ash writing that "Burns's analyses of Russian politics are astute," with the "highly entertaining account" of the wedding "almost worthy of Evelyn Waugh."[11]

On April 11, the State Department announced Burns would step down as Deputy Secretary of State in October 2014, after he twice delayed his retirement first at the request of Secretary John Kerry and then at the request of President Obama.

In a press statement announcing Ambassador Burns' decision to retire, Secretary of State John Kerry said that "Bill is a statesman cut from the same cloth, caliber, and contribution as George F. Kennan and Chip Bohlen, and he has more than earned his place on a very short list of American diplomatic legends".[12] Kerry lauded Burns' "quiet, head-down, get-it-done diplomacy", stating that it had earned him the trust of both Republican and Democratic administrations.

President Obama, in his own statement, said Ambassador Burns "has been a skilled advisor, consummate diplomat, and inspiration to generations of public servants…the country is stronger for Bill's service".[13]

The Atlantic called him the "secret diplomatic weapon" deployed against some of the United States' thorniest foreign policy challenges.[14]

Burns was appointed the ninth President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on February 4, 2015, where he leads a global network of 140 scholars across 20 countries and six centers.

Burns was widely assumed to be on presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's shortlist of Secretary of State nominees, had she won.[15]

His bestselling memoir, The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal, was published by Random House in 2019. It was published in conjunction with an archive of nearly 100 declassified diplomatic cables. For The Back Channel, Burns received The Douglas Dillon Book Award for Books of Distinction on the Practice of American Diplomacy (2019).[16]

In 2019, he was made a "Contributing Writer" at The Atlantic magazine.

Burns writes regularly on U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy for the New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, and other publications.[17]

His Oxford dissertation was published in 1985 as Economic Aid and American Policy Toward Egypt, 1955–1981.

• Commandeur, Legion of Honour (France)
• Knight Commander, Order of Merit (Germany)
• Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun (Japan)
• Marshall Medal (UK)[23]
• Commentadore, Order of Merit (Italy)
• First Order, Al Kawkab Medal (Jordan)