John Negroponte | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2007 | |
| 15thUnited States Deputy Secretary of State | |
| In office February 27, 2007 – January 23, 2009 | |
| President | George W. Bush Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Robert Zoellick |
| Succeeded by | James Steinberg |
| 1stDirector of National Intelligence | |
| In office April 21, 2005 – February 13, 2007 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Mike McConnell |
| United States Ambassador to Iraq | |
| In office July 29, 2004 – March 17, 2005 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Krzysztof Biernacki (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Zalmay Khalilzad |
| 23rdUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations | |
| In office September 19, 2001 – June 23, 2004 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Richard Holbrooke |
| Succeeded by | John Danforth |
| United States Ambassador to the Philippines | |
| In office October 26, 1993 – August 5, 1996 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Richard H. Solomon |
| Succeeded by | Thomas C. Hubbard |
| United States Ambassador to Mexico | |
| In office July 3, 1989 – September 5, 1993 | |
| President | George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Charles J. Pilliod Jr. |
| Succeeded by | James R. Jones |
| 16thUnited States Deputy National Security Advisor | |
| In office November 23, 1987 – January 20, 1989 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Colin Powell |
| Succeeded by | Robert Gates |
| 6thAssistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs | |
| In office July 19, 1985 – November 23, 1987 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | James L. Malone |
| Succeeded by | Frederick M. Bernthal |
| United States Ambassador to Honduras | |
| In office November 11, 1981 – May 30, 1985 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Jack R. Binns |
| Succeeded by | John Arthur Ferch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Dimitri Negroponte (1939-07-21)July 21, 1939 (age 86) London, England |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Education | Yale University (BA) Harvard University |
John Dimitri Negroponte (/ˌnɛɡroʊˈpɒnti/; born July 21, 1939) is an American diplomat. In 2018, he was a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a former J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of International Affairs at theGeorge Washington University'sElliott School of International Affairs.[1] Prior to this appointment, he served as a research fellow and lecturer in international affairs atYale University'sJackson Institute for Global Affairs,United States Deputy Secretary of State (2007–2009), and the first everDirector of National Intelligence (2005–2007).
Negroponte served in theUnited States Foreign Service from 1960 to 1997. From 1981 to 1996, he had tours of duty asUnited States ambassador inHonduras,Mexico, and thePhilippines. After leaving the Foreign Service, he subsequently served in theBush administration asU.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 2001 to 2004, and was ambassador toIraq from June 2004 to April 2005.[2]
Negroponte was born inLondon on July 21, 1939, toGreek parentsDimitrios Negrepontis (1915–1996) of theNegroponte family and Catherine Coumantaros (1917–2001). His father was a shipping magnate and alpine skier who competed in the1936 Winter Olympics. Negroponte attended theAllen-Stevenson School andThe Buckley School and graduated fromPhillips Exeter Academy in 1956 andYale University in 1960. He was a member of Fence Club (Psi Upsilon fraternity), alongsideWilliam H. T. Bush, the brother ofPresidentGeorge H. W. Bush, andPorter Goss, who served asDirector of Central Intelligence andDirector of the Central Intelligence Agency under Negroponte from 2005 to 2006.[3]
Negroponte joined theUnited States Foreign Service in 1960.[4] He served at eight different Foreign Service posts in Asia (including theU.S. Embassy, Saigon),[5] Europe and Latin America, and he also held important positions at theState Department and the White House. As a young Foreign Service officer—one of the few men in Washington who dared to openly disagree with Henry Kissinger's secretive handling of the Vietnam peace talks—Negroponte attempted to convince his superior that any peace agreement negotiated without the consent of South Vietnam's leaderNguyen Van Thieu would fail.Seymour Hersh claims in his bookThe Price of Power that Kissinger never forgave Negroponte, and, upon becoming Secretary of State, exiled him to Quito, Ecuador.[citation needed] This was to be the beginning of Negroponte's long distinguished career as an ambassador. In 1981, he became the U.S. Ambassador toHonduras. From 1985 to 1987, Negroponte held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Subsequently, he served asDeputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, from 1987 to 1989; Ambassador toMexico, from 1989 to 1993; and Ambassador to thePhilippines from 1993 to 1996. As Deputy National Security Advisor to PresidentRonald Reagan, he was involved in the campaign to remove GeneralManuel Noriega from power inPanama. From 1997 until his appointment as ambassador to the U.N., Negroponte was an executive withMcGraw-Hill.[6]
From 1981 to 1985, Negroponte was the U.S. ambassador toHonduras. During this time, the US began to maintain a significant military presence there, with the goal ofoverthrowing the revolutionarySandinista government ofNicaragua, which had overthrown the Somoza dictatorship in a civil war. Military aid to Honduras grew from $4 million to $77.4 million a year.[7] Honduras also received over $200 million in economic aid.[8]
In 1995,The Baltimore Sun published an extensive investigation of U.S. activities in Honduras. The investigation found that Negroponte was aware of human rights abuses being committed byBattalion 3–16, but these were deliberately omitted from reports submitted to Congress.[9] Speaking of Negroponte and other senior U.S. officials, an ex-Honduran congressman, Efraín Díaz, was quoted as saying: "Their attitude was one of tolerance and silence. They needed Honduras to loan its territory more than they were concerned about innocent people being killed."[9][7]
Substantial evidence later emerged to support the contention that Negroponte knew serious violations of human rights were being committed by the Honduran government, yet did not recommend ending U.S. military aid to Honduras.SenatorChristopher Dodd ofConnecticut, on September 14, 2001, as reported in theCongressional Record, aired his concerns on the occasion of Negroponte's nomination to the position of UN ambassador:[10]
Based upon the Committee's review of State Department andCIA documents, it would seem that Ambassador Negroponte knew far more about human rights abuses perpetrated by the Honduran government than he chose to share with the committee in 1989 or in embassy contributions at the time to annual State Department Human Rights reports.
Dodd cited a 1985 cable sent by Negroponte that made it clear that Negroponte was aware of and urged for reform to address the threat of "future human rights abuses" by "secret operating cells" left over by GeneralGustavo Álvarez Martínez, the chief of the Honduran armed forces, after he was forcibly removed from his post by fellow military commanders in 1984. The cables reveal that Negroponte repeatedly urged for updates to the Honduran criminal code and justice system to replace arbitrary measures taken by the Honduran government after events such as the destruction of the nation's main power plant at Tegucigalpa and the abduction of the entire business establishment of San Pedro Sula, Honduras' second largest city, in 1982.[11] The previous U.S. ambassador to Honduras,Jack Binns, who was appointed by PresidentJimmy Carter, made numerous complaints about human rights abuses by theHonduran Army under the government ofPolicarpo Paz García. Binns later acknowledged that the Honduran Army was supported by military assistance from the Argentine junta and the CIA during the Carter administration, and that neither the Honduran government nor the CIA kept the embassy informed of what it was doing.[12] The scale of the carnage in Honduras was limited to less than 300 'disappearances' during the five years of the Negroponte and Binns ambassadorships as compared with 70,000 lost lives as a result of civil war and repression in El Salvador, notwithstanding that Honduras was involved in a low-level civil war punctuated at times by invasions of its territory.[citation needed]
In April 2005, as the Senate confirmation hearings for the National Intelligence post were held, hundreds of documents were released by the State Department in response to aFOIA request byThe Washington Post.[13] The documents, cables that Negroponte sent to Washington while serving as ambassador to Honduras, indicated that he played a more active role than previously known in managing US efforts against the leftist Sandinista government next door in Nicaragua. According to thePost, the image of Negroponte that emerges from the cables is that of an:[13]
exceptionally energetic, action-oriented ambassador whose anti-communist convictions led him to downplay human rights abuses in Honduras, the most reliable U.S. ally in the region. There is little in the documents the State Department has released so far to support his assertion that he used "quiet diplomacy" to persuade the Honduran authorities to investigate the most egregious violations, including the mysterious disappearance of dozens of government opponents.
TheNew York Times wrote that the documents revealed:[14]
... a tough cold warrior who enthusiastically carried out President Ronald Reagan's strategy. They show he sent admiring reports to Washington about the Honduran Army chief, who was blamed for human rights violations, warned that peace talks with the Nicaraguan government might be a dangerous "Trojan horse" and pleaded with officials in Washington to impose greater secrecy on the Honduran role in aiding the contras.
The cables show that Mr. Negroponte worked closely withWilliam J. Casey, then director of central intelligence, on the Reagan administration's anti-Communist offensive in Central America. He helped word a secret 1983 presidential "finding" authorizing support for the Contras, as the Nicaraguan rebels were known, and met regularly with Honduran military officials to win and retain their backing for the covert action.
Negroponte was opposed to early drafts of peace settlements on grounds that they would have left undisturbed the threat of expansion of the Nicaraguan armed forces with Soviet and Cuban aid. Negroponte also tried to undermine efforts by Costa Rican presidentOscar Arias's Contadora peace initiative (for which Arias won a Nobel Prize).[15] In his tenure in Honduras, Negroponte steered a middle course between State Department and journalists who favored a policy of nonresistance to the militarization of the Sandinista regime to power Nicaragua and its aid to rebel movements in Honduras and El Salvador and 'hard line' persons within the Reagan administration who would have involved the United States in Central America through actions such as blockades, bombing of Nicaraguan airfields, provision of offensive weapons, and installation of permanent military bases. However, a study of American policy has noted that:[16]
the United States had a great deal to do with the preservation of Honduran stability. Had it not been for U.S. enticements and pressures, elections probably would not have been held in 1980 and 1981. The perpetuation of the military dictatorship would have undermined the legitimacy of the political order, making it far more vulnerable to revolutionary turmoil. By the same token, strong North American opposition toPresident Suazo's attempt to remain in power in 1985 helped preserve the fragile legitimacy that had been built over the preceding five years ... massive economic aid prevented the economy's collapse ... without the United States, it might well have disintegrated into chaos.
Following Bush-Gorbachev meetings beginning in 1986, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union ended military support for 'proxy wars' in Central America, and free elections in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador followed. Senator Bill Bradley regarded the whole episode as "a minor issue--the supply of arms to the Nicaraguan contras, a policy that took on monumental proportions inside the Beltway and upon those liberals who saw another quagmire in every exercise of military power."[17]
In this posting, Negroponte together with Ambassador Richard Benedick negotiated the Montreal Protocol on Ozone, the most successful modern environmental treaty, overcoming opposition from Europe, Russia, and China and from some Reagan administration officials.[18] He also fostered scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union, clashing with 'hard liners' like Richard Perle, as well as two treaties relating to cooperation in dealing with nuclear accidents in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster.[citation needed]
During Negroponte's tour as US Ambassador to Mexico, he was instrumental in persuading the Bush administration to respond to a Mexican initiative by negotiating theNorth American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) despite initial opposition by the U.S. Office of Trade Representative. His tenure in Mexico was thus the most consequential of any modern American ambassadorship.[19] Another commentator noted the subsequent proliferation of Negroponte's vision in other free trade agreements.[20] He officiated at the embassy where he liberalized visa practices.
President George W. Bush appointed Negroponte to be U.S. ambassador to theUnited Nations in February 2001. There was substantial opposition to his nomination from Senate Democrats, and Negroponte was questioned over his knowledge of human rights abuses in Honduras while he was ambassador.[7] His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on September 15, 2001, four days after theSeptember 11 attacks on the United States. In theNew York Review of Books,Stephen Kinzer reported that a State Department official told him that "Giving him this job is a way of telling the UN: 'We hate you.'"[8] Negroponte, however, warned the Bush administration about the adverse consequences of intervening in Iraq.[21]
Later, in April 2004, Negroponte "was instrumental in winning unanimous approval of a Security Council resolution that demandedSaddam Hussein comply with U.N. mandates to disarm".[22]
On April 19, 2004, Negroponte was nominated byU.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush to be theUnited States Ambassador to Iraq after the June 30 transfer of sovereignty to the new Iraqi government. He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on May 6, 2004, by a vote of 95 to 3, and was sworn in on June 23, 2004, replacingL. Paul Bremer as the U.S.'s highest ranking American civilian in Iraq. He advised the Bush administration that security had to precede reconstruction in Iraq, organized a peaceful election, and gave advice, equally unwelcome to Secretary Rumsfeld and Democrats in Congress, that a five-year commitment would be required.[23]
On February 17, 2005, PresidentGeorge W. Bush named Negroponte as the firstDirector of National Intelligence, (DNI), a cabinet-level position charged with coordinating the nation'sIntelligence Community.[24] On April 21, 2005, Negroponte was confirmed by a vote of 98 to 2 in the Senate, and subsequently sworn into the office that was called "substantially stronger" than its predecessor position, the Director of Central Intelligence.[25] Part of its power stemmed from the ability to "determine" budgets, prompting President Bush to remark, "That's why John Negroponte is going to have a lot of influence. He will set the budgets."[26] The budget of the Intelligence Community was estimated at $40 billion.[26]
A memorandum in the Federal Register signed May 5, 2006 by President Bush states that Negroponte, as intelligence czar, be delegated the authority to exempt companies from accurate accounting standards, a power previously reserved for the chief executive under the 1934 Securities Exchange Act.[27]
Reaction in the intelligence community to Negroponte's nomination was, according toNewsweek, "overwhelmingly positive" because he had "earned the respect of many intel professionals since those early days of the Reagan counterinsurgency."[28]The Times noted, "if anyone can bring a semblance of unity to America's bewildering network of competing spy agencies, it is John Negroponte."[29] According to John MacGaffin, the CIA's former associate deputy director forclandestine operations, "This is a guy who plays hardball. He's a man who understands the whole range of counterintelligence, intelligence and covert action. They're all parts of foreign policy and protecting ourselves."[28]
Congressional reaction from Sen.Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), then-vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Rep.Jane Harman (D-CA), then-ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee was positive.[30]
As DNI, Negroponte, "embarked on an impressive array of reform efforts", with "perhaps the most transformational work ... [involving] the effort to retool the creaky electronic infrastructure of the intelligence community."[24] One of Negroponte's first tests was on an over-budget satellite system. The $25 billion system, called the "Future Imagery Architecture", was created as the "foundation for the next generation of America's space-based surveillance efforts." The reality was quite different, as it became, "a managerial nightmare – five years behind schedule and billions over budget. Poor quality control and technical problems raised questions about whether the system would ever work properly." Negroponte jettisoned half the classified project.[24]
Negroponte also appointed "mission managers" – intelligence professionals focused on America's hardest targets and most looming threats. The mission managers are focused oncounterterrorism,counterproliferation,counterintelligence,Iran,North Korea, andCuba andVenezuela.[31] According toJohn McLaughlin, former DeputyDirector of Central Intelligence (DDCI), the mission manager concept would likely facilitate integration of analysis, collection of information, and other intelligence activities.[32] The mission manager concept was found to be beneficial during potential crises, such as in the days immediately following North Korea's 2006 nuclear test.[24]
Progress made included the White House approval of more than 30 DNI recommendations on improving the flow of intelligence and terrorism data to state and local authorities; requiring intelligence agencies to accept each other's clearance; efforts to prevent groupthink; creation of an analytic ombudsman position; establishment of an Open Source center; and more "red teams" to challenge conventional thinking.[24] ThePresident's Daily Brief, the highly classified report given to the President each morning by Negroponte, once prepared solely by theCentral Intelligence Agency, is now compiled from intelligence agencies across the government.[24]
In spite of his progress leading theIntelligence Community, though, Negroponte wanted to return to the field in which he spent 37 years – theState Department and Foreign Service.[33] On January 5, 2007, Negroponte announced his resignation as DNI and move to the State Department to serve asDeputy Secretary of State.[34]
According toNewsweek, "Under Negroponte, theintel czar's office was praised by both congressional and executive-branch officials for greatly improving—via its National Counterterrorism Center—the sharing among relevant agencies of intelligence reports about terror threats."[32][35]
On January 5, 2007, Negroponte announced his resignation asDirector of National Intelligence and nomination to serve asDeputy Secretary of State under SecretaryCondoleezza Rice.[36] PresidentGeorge W. Bush swore him in on February 27, 2007, at theU.S. Department of State in the Benjamin Franklin Room.[37]
As Deputy Secretary, Negroponte served as the principal deputy and adviser to the Secretary of State, acting as chief operating officer of the State Department and overseeing the formulation and conduct of U.S. foreign policy.[38] President Bush emphasized at his swearing-in that Negroponte would "help guide diplomats deployed around the globe" and "work with Secretary Rice and the leaders of other federal agencies to ensure that America speaks with one voice."
Negroponte played a central role in Iraq policy during theIraq War, drawing on his previous experience as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. In December 2007, he conducted an extensive six-day tour of Iraq, visiting nine locations across eight provinces—includingBasrah,Fallujah,Ramadi, andBaghdad.[39] During this visit, he met with over half of theProvincial Reconstruction Teams operating in Iraq, and emphasized the importance of following security gains with political reconciliation, warning that without progress, Iraq risked "falling back to the more violent patterns of the past."[40]
Negroponte advocated for theInternational Compact with Iraq, a comprehensive economic reform initiative involving more than 70 countries and international organizations. He also promoted theEconomic Empowerment in Strategic Regions Initiative, designed to harness private sector development in conflict areas—including the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, Iraq, andMindanao in the Philippines.[41]
Under Negroponte's leadership, the State Department pursued an aggressive economic diplomacy agenda. He championed the approval of four pendingfree trade agreements withPeru,Colombia,Panama, andSouth Korea, arguing that their defeat would represent "a victory forHugo Chávez ofVenezuela."[42] During his tenure, he noted that the Bush administration had negotiated more free trade agreements than all previous administrations combined, including agreements with theDominican Republic,Central America (CAFTA-DR),Australia,Bahrain,Chile,Jordan,Morocco,Oman, andSingapore.
Negroponte also promotedReconstruction Opportunity Zones forAfghanistan, and earthquake-affected regions ofPakistan, designed to allow duty-free entry of certain products to create job opportunities and counter extremism.
A significant component of Negroponte's portfolio involved managing theU.S.-China Senior Dialogue, a high-level diplomatic mechanism for bilateral consultation. He co-chaired the sixth round of the Senior Dialogue with Chinese State CouncilorDai Bingguo in Washington, D.C., on December 15, 2008.[43] In January 2009, near the end of his tenure, Negroponte traveled toBeijing to attend events commemorating the 30th anniversary of U.S.-China diplomatic relations, reflecting on the dramatic transformation in bilateral ties since his first visit to China in 1972 as part of a delegation led byHenry Kissinger.[44]
Negroponte oversaw diplomatic engagement across multiple regions during a period of global challenges. He participated in the dedication ceremony for the newU.S. Embassy in Baghdad on January 5, 2009, and traveled toPakistan in December 2008 for a memorial ceremony honoring American personnel killed in the2008 Marriott Hotel bombing inIslamabad.[45] He also conducted diplomatic missions toIreland,Northern Ireland, and various other countries to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives.
Negroponte's tenure concluded on January 20, 2009, with the end of the Bush administration and the inauguration of PresidentBarack Obama.
Negroponte joined McLarty Associates, an international strategic advisory firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., in 2009.[46] He serves on theLeadership Council of Concordia, a think tank based in New York City focused on promoting effective public–private collaboration for greater sustainability.[47]
Negroponte was one of 50 signatories of a statement concerning 2016 Republican presidential candidateDonald Trump in which Trump was called "reckless" and stated that he would "put at risk our country's national security and well-being."[48] In 2020, Negroponte, 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."[49]
Negroponte speaks five languages (English,French,Greek,Spanish, andVietnamese). He is the elder brother ofNicholas Negroponte, founder of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology'sMedia Lab and of theOne Laptop per Child project. His brotherMichel is anEmmy Award-winningfilmmaker, and his other brother,George Negroponte, is an artist and was president of theDrawing Center of New York City from 2002 to 2007. Negroponte and his wife,Diana Mary Villiers (born August 14, 1947), have five adopted children, Marina, Alexandra, John, George and Sophia, all of whom were adopted fromHonduras.[50] Negroponte and his wife were married on December 14, 1971.[citation needed]
{{citation}}:|archive-url= is malformed: timestamp (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)John D. Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence, receives the Academy's Golden Plate Award presented by Council member President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia during the 2006 Achievement Summit in Los Angeles.
The Director of the CIA, General Michael Hayden, is presented with the Golden Plate Award by John Negroponte.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Honduras 1981–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Mexico 1989–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to the Philippines 1993–1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to the United Nations 2001–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Iraq 2004–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs 1985–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy National Security Advisor 1987–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Deputy Secretary of State 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| New office | United States Director of National Intelligence 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
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