Ambassador William J. Burns has argued that the post-pandemic world poses a massive test for American statecraft. In this armchair discussion at the IIEA, Ambassador Burns draws on his distinguished career in the US foreign service, 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.
About the Speaker:
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 the second serving career diplomat in history to become Deputy Secretary of State. Prior to his tenure as Deputy Secretary, Ambassador Burns served from 2008 to 2011 as Under Secretary for Political Affairs. He was Ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008.
