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David Laurence Aaron (born August 21, 1938) is an American diplomat and writer who served in theJimmy Carter andBill Clinton administrations. He graduated fromOccidental College with a BA, and fromPrinceton University with an MPA. He later received an honorary Ph.D. from Occidental College. He is currently director of theRAND Corporation's Center for Middle East Public Policy.

Aaron was born inChicago, Illinois, United States. He entered the U.S. foreign service in 1962, where he served as a political and economic officer inGuayaquil, Ecuador. In 1964 he was assigned to the NATO desk at theDepartment of State. He subsequently served as a political officer toNATO where he worked on the Nuclear Planning Group and on theNon Proliferation Treaty.

He then joined theArms Control and Disarmament Agency where he served as a member of the U.S. Delegation to theStrategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), during which Aaron was a key negotiator of an agreement with theSoviet Union to reduce the risk of nuclear weapon accidents. He was then recruited to serve onHenry Kissinger'sNational Security Council staff during theNixon administration, from 1972 to 1974. During that time, Aaron drafted NSSM 242 onNuclear Strategy, which came to be known as theSchlesinger Doctrine.^[1][2][3]

In 1974, on the recommendation ofZbigniew Brzezinski, Aaron became SenatorWalter Mondale's legislative assistant. The following year, Aaron was task force leader of the Senate'sSelect Committee on Intelligence. He was the principal architect of the committee's recommendations. Aaron later followed Mondale to theJimmy Carter Presidential campaign.^[4]

In 1977, Aaron was asked by Brzezinski, who had been appointed theNational Security Advisor, to becomeDeputy National Security Advisor in the administration ofJimmy Carter.^[5] Aaron was one of several formerKissinger aides appointed byJimmy Carter toforeign policy anddefense positions.^[6]

During his time at theWhite House, Aaron made a name for himself in foreign policy circles and was recognized as a rising star in theDemocratic Party.^[7] Aaron was a special envoy to Africa, Latin America, China, Israel and Europe, and became a trusted envoy on Presidential missions. Shortly after Carter's inauguration, Aaron attended theBilderberg Conference, in which he undertook lengthy private discussions with German ChancellorHelmut Schmidt. InIsrael, Aaron worked withMoshe Dayan on the concept of "autonomy" for thePalestinians. This concept helped to open the door for theCamp David Agreements, which are understood to have structured peace betweenEgypt and Israel.

Aaron also represented the White House in talks with the Office of FrenchPresidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing inParis, as well as with the Cabinet Office at10 Downing Street in London. President Carter tapped Aaron to lead an inter-agency mission to structure an agreement with European nations to deploy U.S. Pershing Missiles and Ground Launched Cruise Missiles in Europe, in response to thedeployment ofSS-20 Intermediate Missiles by theSoviet Union. He persuaded key governments to accept the U.S. deployments, as well as to seek negotiations with theU.S.S.R. for the future bilateral elimination of the deployments.

Aaron was also seen as a tough and sometimes controversial figure. The U.S. Ambassador in Paris complained that he was going behind his back in secret dealings with French President Giscard d'Estaing's office. In 1978, he came head to head withDirector of Central IntelligenceTurner of theCIA, on Turner's cutbacks and at the CIA. Aaron's image as a "tough customer" was intensified during an attack onNorth Yemen bySouth Yemen which was backed by the Soviet Union.^[7] PresidentCarter,Brzezinski andCyrus Vance were on a mission toEgypt andIsrael. He remained inWashington to coordinate the U.S. response. Aaron's hard-line against Communist expansion led him to push for the dispatch of $400 million in arms to North Yemen.White House staff commented on his tough rule, one staff member was quoted as saying, "Believe it or not, people were relieved when Brzezinski got back to town".

WhenReagan became president in 1981, Aaron moved into the private sector, becoming vice president for Mergers and Acquisitions atOppenheimer and Co. and Vice Chairman of Oppenheimer International. Aaron left Oppenheimer in 1985, to write and lecture, but went on to serve on the board of directors of Oppenheimer's Quest for Value Dual Purpose Fund. Over the next several years he published three novels (State Scarlet; Agent of Influence and Crossing By Night) which were translated into ten languages. He also wrote a television documentary, "The Lessons of the Gulf War", hosted by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffWilliam J. Crowe. He was also aconsultant for the 20th Century Fund, from 1990 to 1992.

Aaron was involved in the election campaigns ofWalter Mondale andBill Clinton. In Mondale's campaign, Aaron played a leading role as senior consultant on foreign policy and defense. Aaron served in Clinton's foreign policy team during his election campaign.

In 1993 he became United States Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris,^[8] and in 1996 was assigned the additional job of White House Special Envoy for Cryptography. At the OECD he successfully negotiated the convention to Prohibit Bribery in International Business Transactions. As Special Envoy for Cryptography, Aaron pushed for a global standard that would require computer users with high grade encryption to submit keys to their codes for scrambling data to an independent authority, which would hold them in escrow and make them available to law enforcement only under a court order.

At the time, he argued that unbreakable codes in the hands of terrorists would threaten every country's security. However, he was attacked by advocates of privacy rights, who said that the compromise could easily be misused by Governments and corporations. In 1997 he was appointedUnder Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, where ironically he negotiated privacy rules with the European Union on the handling of personal data.

After Clinton's second term in office, Aaron became senior international advisor atDorsey & Whitney. He leftDorsey & Whitney in 2003 to join theRAND Corporation as a senior fellow. At RAND, he directs The Center For Middle East Public Policy and recently produced a non fiction book, "In their Own Words: Voices of Jihad", published by the RAND Corporation.^[9]

David marriedChloe Aaron in 1962, with whom he had a son; his wife died in early 2020.^[10] He is a member of theAmerican Ditchley Foundation, theAtlantic Council, theCouncil on Foreign Relations,^[11] theInternational League of Human Rights, theNational Democratic Institute, and thePacific Council on International Policy.

• The Other Side of the Story, Jody Powell, Morrow 1984

• David L. Aaron Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• Occidental College alumni
• 1938 births
• Living people
• Ambassadors of the United States to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• United States Deputy National Security Advisors
• Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni
• American expatriates in Ecuador
• Under Secretaries of Commerce for International Trade

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• People appearing on C-SPAN