Chas W. Freeman

Chas W. Freeman, Jr. is a visiting scholar at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. He is the former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (1993-1994), Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (1989-1992), Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (1986–1989), and Chargé D’affaires at Bangkok (1984-1986) and Beijing (1981-1984). He served as Vice Chair of the Atlantic Council (1996-2008), Co-Chair of the United States China Policy Foundation (1996-2009), President of the Middle East Policy Council (1997-2009), and Chair of the Committee for the Republic (2003-2020). He was the principal American interpreter during President Nixon’s path-breaking 1972 visit to Beijing, the editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica article on diplomacy, and the author of America’s Continuing Misadventures in the Middle East; Interesting Times: China, America, and the Shifting Balance of Prestige; America’s Misadventures in the Middle East;< em>The Diplomat’s Dictionary; and Arts of Power: Statecraft and Diplomacy. He is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School who studied at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and National Taichung University of Education. A compendium of his speeches is available at online.