Richard Armitage

Richard Armitage (1945-) is an American foreign policy specialist, currently in his own private consulting firm, who served in a variety of political and military posts, the highest being Deputy Secretary of State in the George W. Bush Administration. At present, he is Board of Directors of ConocoPhillips, ManTech International Corporation and Transcu Ltd., is a member of The American Academy of Diplomacy as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

He is a close friend of Colin Powell, and, like Powell, is more an internationalist than a neoconservative.

Early life

He graduated from the United States Naval Academy, class of 1967, and was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy. He first went to the Vietnam War on a destroyer, and then served three combat tours as an adviser to the Vietnamese riverine forces. He became fluent in Vietnamese.

Leaving active Navy duty in 1973, he became a Defense Department employee in South Vietnam, and helped remove Vietnamese Navy personnel and equipment before the fall of South Vietnam.

In May 1975, he cameWashington as a Pentagon consultant and was posted in Tehran, Iran, until November 1976. After private sector work, he became Administrative Assistant to Senator Robert Dole (R-KS) in 1978.

Reagan Administration

In the 1980 Reagan campaign, Mr. Armitage was senior advisor to the Interim Foreign Policy Advisory board, which prepared the President-Elect for major international policy issues confronting the new administration. From 1981 until June 1983 Mr. Armitage was Deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In the Pentagon from June 1983 to May 1989, he served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.

George H. W. Bush Administration

From 1989 through 1992, Mr. Armitage filled key diplomatic positions as Presidential Special Negotiator for the Philippines Military Bases Agreement and Special Mediator for Water in the Middle East. President Bush sent him as a Special Emissary to Jordan’s King Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War.

From March 1992 until his departure from public service in May 1993, Mr. Armitage (with the personal rank of Ambassador) directed U.S. assistance to the new independent states (NIS) of the former Soviet Union