Cunningham, James Blair, 1952-

Ambassador James B. Cunningham joined the Atlantic Council in May 2015 as a Senior Fellow in the South Asia Center and the Zalmay Khalilzad Chair on Afghanistan. He served as Ambassador to Afghanistan (August 2012 to December 2014), and as Deputy Ambassador (2011 – 2012). He was Ambassador to Israel (2008 -2011), Consul General for Hong Kong and Macau (2005 – 2008), Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (1999 – 2004), and Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations for the first nine months of 2001, including on 9/11.

After early tours in Stockholm, Washington, Rome, and the US Mission to NATO, NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner selected Ambassador Cunningham as his Chief of Staff (1988 – 1990). He advised the Secretary General on all NATO issues in the context of nuclear disarmament in Europe, the collapse of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany, and the impending dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union.

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