Richard R. Burt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Ambassador to West Germany | |
| In office September 16, 1985 – February 17, 1989 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Arthur F. Burns |
| Succeeded by | Vernon A. Walters |
| 13thAssistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs | |
| In office February 18, 1983 – July 18, 1985 | |
| Preceded by | Lawrence Eagleburger |
| Succeeded by | Rozanne L. Ridgway |
| 6thDirector of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs | |
| In office January 23, 1981 – February 17, 1982 | |
| Preceded by | Reginald H. Bartholomew |
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Howe |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1947-02-03)February 3, 1947 (age 78) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Cornell University Tufts University |
Richard R. Burt (born February 3, 1947) is an American businessman and diplomat who served asUnited States Ambassador to Germany and was a chief negotiator of theStrategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Prior to his diplomatic career, Burt worked as director of anon-governmental organization and from 1977 to 1980 was a national security correspondent forThe New York Times.[1]
Burt was born on February 3, 1947, inSewell, Chile.[2] He attendedCornell University, where he was a member ofAlpha Delta Phi.[3] He earned his bachelor's degree, and earned a master's degree in international relations from theFletcher School of Law and Diplomacy atTufts University in 1971. Following graduate school, he was selected for a research fellowship at theUnited States Naval War College. Following this fellowship, Burt moved to London to work as a research associate and later Assistant Director of theInternational Institute of Strategic Studies. In 1977, he was hired byThe New York Times to work as a correspondent on national security issues.[4]
Burt began working for theUnited States Department of State in the early 1980s. In 1981, he was appointed Director of Politico-Military Affairs, and in 1983 Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs. In 1985, he became theUnited States Ambassador to Germany.[4] He assisted in the 11 February 1986 exchange of nine persons includingAnatoly Shcharansky andHana and Karl Koecher across theGlienicke Bridge in Berlin.[5][6] His tenure as Ambassador to Germany coincided with the beginning of the process that would lead to thereunification of Germany.[7] In 1989, PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush appointed Burt as chief negotiator for theStrategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) between the United States and theSoviet Union, with the rank of ambassador.[2][4] The treaty, signed in 1991, limited the number of nuclear weapons that the two countries could have.
After negotiation of the START I treaty, Burt left government service and entered the private sector. He served asJohn McCain's top national security adviser during McCain's2000 and2008 Presidential campaigns.[8]
In 2000, he,Lord Powell of Bayswater and others founded the Washington, D.C.–based private intelligence and risk-assessment and management firm Diligence with Diligence Europe headed byMichael Howard.[9] While he chaired Diligence,Nathaniel Rothschild, a close friend ofOleg Deripaska, purchased a large stake in Diligence.[8] While Deripaska was banned from entering the United States from 1998 to 2010,[10] he hired Diligence for corporate intelligence gathering, visa lobbying through its considerable GOP connections and, crucially, helping to obtain a $150 million World Bank/European Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan for the Komi Aluminum Project atSosnogorsk,Komi Republic, a Deripaska subsidiary ofRusal.[8][11] Through the support from Diligence, Deripaska received a multiple entry visa to the United States in December 2005.[8] From the spring to October 2005, Diligence performed Project Yucca forBGR[a] in which the auditing firmKPMG was infiltrated by Diligence in order to obtain KPMG's audit of theJeffrey Galmond andLeonid Reiman associated firmIPOC International Growth Fund for the benefit of Alfa Group's telecom subsidiaryAltimo.[15] During Project Yucca, the shareholders of Diligence were CEO Nick Day who was a former British agent, the Chairman of Diligence Richard Burt, the Exxel Group which is a Buenos Aires private equity firm, and Edward Mathias fromThe Carlyle Group which is a private equity company from Washington D.C.[13][14] TheBermuda government had accused the IPOC International Growth Fund, which is a Bermuda registered owner of Russian telecoms,[b] of money laundering and also accused Diligence of impersonating secret service personnel.[13][14] KPMG successfully sued Diligence for fraud and unjust enrichment and received a settlement of $1.7 million from Diligence on June 20, 2006.[13]
In 2007, he left Diligence to work with Henry Kissinger's consulting firm,Kissinger McLarty Associates.[8][c]
He has also worked as a partner in consulting firmsMcKinsey and Company and now serves as a managing partner ofMcLarty Associates in Washington, D.C. In addition, he has served on boards for theAtlantic Council,[24]Deutsche Bank's Scudder and Germany mutual fund families,[1] America Abroad Media,[25] International Games Technology,UBS mutual funds,[1] a member of the senior advisory board of Alfa Bank in Moscow until November 2016,[1] an advisor to European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS)North America’s board until November 2016,[1] andTextron Corporation. Burt is also a Senior Advisor to theCenter for Strategic and International Studies[4] and U.S. Chair ofGlobal Zero.[26] He has lobbied on behalf ofLOT Polish Airlines, theCapital Bank of Jordan, and Ukrainian construction firmTMM.[6][27] He has a working relationship withMikhail Fridman who is closely associated with the Alfa Group.[6][28]
In 2014 through early 2016, Burt served as an unpaid foreign policy advisor forRand Paul's campaign for president.[29][30]
During the first two quarters of 2016, McLarty Associates received $365,000 to lobby for New European Pipeline AG, a firm owned by Russian oil companyGazprom.[6] Beginning in February 2016, he and a colleague represented the five European energy companies investing inNord Stream 2, an expansion of theNord Stream 1 pipeline which would allow Russian gas to reach Europe without going throughBelarus orUkraine.Since 2017, Burt and another lobbyist of a subsidiary of McLarty Associates have received $3.53 million from five Nord Stream 2 financing companies.[31]
Burt claims to have contributed to Trump's first major foreign policyspeech, April 27, 2016, at theMayflower Hotel.[32][33] In the speech, Trump called for greater cooperation with Russia and encouraged Trump to take a less interventionist approach to foreign affairs.[34]: 126 [35] In an April 2019 interview of theCenter for the National Interest'sDmitry Simes byChristiane Amanpour, Burt was the top national security adviser to the2016 Trump campaign.[36][37] During the campaign, Burt also wrote white papers forJeff Sessions on foreign policy and national security.[6][d]
Burt's simultaneous roles as a campaign adviser for Trump and a lobbyist for Russian interests first drew scrutiny in October 2016 following the release of theSteele dossier.[6] Burt is on both the senior advisory board of the Russian Alfa Bank and theIrina Krivosheeva headed Alfa Capital Partners Advisory Board in which Russia'sAlfa-Bank is an investor.[34][38]
In 2020, Burt, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."[39]
Burt is a board member of theDmitri Simes headedCenter for the National Interest.[38]
"We have no knowledge of this," wrote Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks in an email. "In fact, our team cannot verify his self-proclaimed contributions to Mr. Trump's speech and, I don't believe Mr. Trump or our policy staff has ever met Mr. Burt. To our knowledge he had no input in the speech and has had no contact with our policy team."
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Director of the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs January 23, 1981 – February 17, 1982 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs February 18, 1983 – July 18, 1985 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Germany 1985–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Minister Plenipotentiary |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | ||
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | ||
