Crocker, Ryan Clark, 1949-

<p>Ryan Crocker mostly recently served as a Senior Fellow at Jackson from 2018 – 2019. He is currently a Diplomat in Residence at Princeton University. He is on a leave of absence from Texas A&M University as an Executive Professor. From 2010-2011 and 2013-2016, he served as Dean of the George Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M.</p>

<p>He retired from the Foreign Service in April 2009 after a career of over 37 years but was recalled to active duty by President Obama to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan in 2011. He has served as U.S. Ambassador six times: Afghanistan (2011-2012), Iraq (2007-2009), Pakistan (2004-2007), Syria (1998-2001), Kuwait (1994-1997), and Lebanon (1990-1993).</p>

<p>Born in Spokane, Washington, he grew up in an Air Force family, attending schools in Morocco, Canada and Turkey, as well as the U.S. He received a B.A. in English in 1971 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2001 from Whitman College (Washington). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Association of American Ambassadors. In August 2013, he was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees all U.S. government-supported civilian international media. He is also on the Board of Directors of Mercy Corps International, and is a Trustee for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.</p>

<p>Ambassador Crocker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, in 2009. In July 2012, he was named an Honorary Marine, the 75th civilian so honored since the founding of the Corps in 1775.</p>

<p>Ryan Clark Crocker (born June 19, 1949) is a former career ambassador within the United States Foreign Service and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has served as United States Ambassador to Afghanistan (2011–2012), Iraq (2007–2009), Pakistan (2004–2007), Syria (1998–2001), Kuwait (1994– 1997), and Lebanon (1990–1993). In January 2010, he became Dean of Texas A&M University's George Bush School of Government and Public Service.</p>

<p>Former Secretary of State Colin Powell called Crocker "one of our very best foreign service officers". President George W. Bush called him America's Lawrence of Arabia and noted that General David Petraeus had said that "it was a great honor for me to be his military wingman".</p>

<p>Crocker was born in Spokane, Washington. Growing up, he had family members in the U.S. Air Force and in Turkey. He lived in Morocco, Canada and Turkey. Crocker attended University College Dublin and Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in English literature in 1971 and was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.</p>

<p>He joined the United States Foreign Service, and after Persian language training, he was assigned to the American Consulate in Khorramshahr, Iran, in 1972. His subsequent assignment was to the newly established embassy in Doha, Qatar, in 1974 as an economic-commercial officer, and in 1976 Crocker returned to Washington, DC, for long-term Arabic training. He completed the 20-month program at the Foreign Service Institutes Arabic School in Tunis in June 1978. Crocker was then assigned as chief of the economic-commercial section at the U.S. Interests Section in Baghdad, Iraq. Crocker served in Beirut, Lebanon, as chief of the political section from 1981 to 1984. On September 18, 1982, he reported back to the Department of State about the Sabra and Shatila massacre. He also survived the 1983 United States Embassy bombing.</p>

<p>He spent the 1984–85 academic year at Princeton University as a mid-career fellow under State Department auspices, in Near Eastern studies. He served as deputy director of the Office of Israel and Arab–Israeli affairs from 1985 to 1987 and was political counselor at the American Embassy in Cairo from 1987 to 1990. Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, Crocker became the Director of the Iraq-Kuwait Task Force.</p>

<p>In 1998, as the Ambassador to Syria, his residence was plundered by an angry mob.</p>

<p>In the days after the 9/11 attacks, Crocker and other senior U.S. State Department officials flew to Geneva to meet secretly with representatives of the government of Iran. For several months, Crocker and his Iranian counterparts under Major General Qasem Soleimani cooperated on capturing Al Qaeda operatives in the region and fighting the Taliban government in Afghanistan. These meetings stopped after the "Axis of Evil" speech hardened Iranian attitudes toward cooperating with the U.S.</p>

<p>In January 2002, he was appointed interim chargé d'affaires to the new government of Afghanistan, and was confirmed as Ambassador to Pakistan in October 2004. In September 2004, President Bush conferred on him the diplomatic rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the Foreign Service, equivalent to a four-star officer in the military. On January 8, 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that the Bush administration would nominate Crocker as the new American Ambassador to Iraq, replacing Zalmay Khalilzad, once that Khalilzad's confirmation to the post of Ambassador to the UN was complete.</p>

<p>On December 4, 2009 The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, in College Station, Texas, announced the appointment of Crocker as its next Dean, effective January 25, 2010.</p>

<p>Although retired from the State Department and the Foreign Service, Crocker was called upon by the Obama Administration and nominated by President Barack Obama in April 2011 to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan. The appointment was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on June 30, 2011. In July 2012 he stepped down, as announced in May due to unspecified health reasons.</p>

<p>Ryan Crocker is Dean and Executive Professor at the George Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University, where he holds the Edward and Howard Kruse Endowed Chair. He was the James Schlesinger Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia (2012-2014), and he served as the first Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale University (2012-2013).</p>

<p>He retired from the Foreign Service in April 2009 after a career of over 37 years but was recalled to active duty by President Obama to serve as US Ambassador to Afghanistan in 2011. He has served as US Ambassador six times: Afghanistan (2011-2012), Iraq (2007-2009), Pakistan (2004-2007), Syria (1998-2001), Kuwait (1994-1997), and Lebanon (1990-1993). He has also served as the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College, where he joined the faculty in 2003. From May to August 2003, he was in Baghdad as the first Director of Governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from August 2001 to May 2003. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1971, he also has had assignments in Iran, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt, as well as Washington. He was assigned to the American Embassy in Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the bombings of the embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983.</p>

<p>Born in Spokane, Washington, he grew up in an Air Force family, attending schools in Morocco, Canada and Turkey, as well as the U.S. He received a B.A. in English in 1971 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2001 from Whitman College (Washington). He also holds an honorary Doctorate in National Security Affairs from the National Defense University (2010), honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Gonzaga University (2009) and Seton Hall University (2012), as well as an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the American University of Afghanistan (2013). He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Association of American Ambassadors. In August 2013, he was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees all U.S. government-supported civilian international media. He is also on the Board of Directors of Mercy Corps International.</p>

<p>Ambassador Crocker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, in 2009. His other awards include the Veterans of Foreign Wars Dwight D. Eisenhower Award (2014), Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Service Awards, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award (2008 and 2012), the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service (1997 and 2008) and for Distinguished Public Service (2012), the Award for Valor and the American Foreign Service Association Rivkin Award for creative dissent. He received the National Clandestine Service’s Donovan Award in 2009 and the Director of Central Intelligence’s Director’s Award in 2012. In 2011, he was awarded the Marshall Medal by the Association of the United States Army. In January 2002, he was sent to Afghanistan to reopen the American Embassy in Kabul. He subsequently received the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for "exceptional courage and leadership" in Afghanistan. In September 2004, President Bush conferred on him the personal rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in the Foreign Service. In May 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the establishment of the Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Expeditionary Diplomacy. In July 2012, he was named an Honorary Marine, the 75th civilian so honored since the founding of the Corps in 1775.</p>