Virtual Discussion

Ambassador William J. Burns

President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State

Ambassador William J. Burns, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, has argued that the post-pandemic world poses a massive test for American statecraft. In this virtual armchair discussion, Ambassador Burns will draw on his distinguished career as an American diplomat, and his best-selling book, The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal, to discuss this make-or-break moment for America and its role in the world.

Moderated by

David A. Merkel

Fellow, International Institute for Strategic Studies

Registration

FREE for PCFR Members

$10 for Non-Members

Schedule

Thursday, November 19, 2020

12:00 pm-1:15 pm MT

Venue

Zoom Meeting

The link for this webinar will be sent via email prior to the event.

About Amb. Burns

Ambassador Bill Burns is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a thirty-three-year diplomatic career. He holds the highest rank in the Foreign Service, Career Ambassador, and is only the second serving career diplomat in history to become Deputy Secretary of State. Prior to his tenure as Deputy Secretary, Ambassador Burns served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2008 to 2011, Ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2001 to 2005, and Ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001.

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About the Book

The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for its Renewal by Ambassador William J. Burns

“Bill Burns is a treasure of American diplomacy.”—Hillary Clinton

“The Back Channel shows how diplomacy works, why it matters, and why its recent demise is so tragic.”—Walter Isaacson, author of Leonardo da Vinci

Over the course of more than three decades as an American diplomat, William J. Burns played a central role in the most consequential diplomatic episodes of his time—from the bloodless end of the Cold War to the collapse of post–Cold War relations with Putin’s Russia, from post–9/11 tumult in the Middle East to the secret nuclear talks with Iran.

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