Harvard Professor and Former Ambassador Nicholas Burns joins GlobalPost as Senior Foreign Affairs Columnist

BOSTON, MA — GlobalPost announced today that Harvard professor and former American diplomat Nicholas Burns will become the award-winning world news site’s Senior Foreign Affairs Columnist. Burns, who is Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, will write columns for GlobalPost and represent the site as an expert on foreign affairs issues.

“We are especially proud to have Nick Burns join GlobalPost,” said GlobalPost President, CEO and Co-Founder Philip S. Balboni. “He is a man of exceptional intellect and dynamic personality, a distinguished diplomat, teacher, lecturer and thinker with an extraordinary depth of knowledge and experience that ranges across the entire spectrum of global issues. He has worked at the highest levels in the US government and served Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush in key roles. He will bring our readers a rare level of insight and a unique perspective on the complex issues facing us internationally.”

Burns’ columns will focus on the full range of the most important current international events. They will be featured prominently on the GlobalPost site. Burns has appeared on almost every major news outlet and is a regular guest on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, and PBS among others.

Burns served in the United States Government for twenty-seven years. As a career foreign service officer, he was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2008; the State Department’s third-ranking official when he led negotiations on the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement; a long-term military assistance agreement with Israel; and was the lead U.S. negotiator on Iran's nuclear program. He was U.S. Ambassador to NATO (2001-2005), Ambassador to Greece (1997-2001) and State Department Spokesman (1995-1997). He worked for five years (1990-1995) on the National Security Council at the White House where he was Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Special Assistant to President Clinton and Director for Soviet Affairs in the Administration of President George H.W. Bush. Burns also served in the American Consulate General in Jerusalem (1985-1987) where he coordinated U.S. economic assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and before that, at the American embassies in Egypt (1983-1985) and Mauritania (1980 as an intern).

Burns has received twelve honorary degrees, the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award, the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Johns Hopkins University, and the Boston College Alumni Achievement Award. He has a BA in History from Boston College (1978), an MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (1980), and earned the Certificat Pratique de Langue Francaise at the University of Paris-Sorbonne (1977). He was a visiting Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in summer 2008.

Currently Burns is Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is Director of the Future of Diplomacy Project and Faculty Chair for the Programs on the Middle East and on India and South Asia. He serves on the Board of Directors of the School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and is a Faculty Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He is also director of the non-partisan Aspen Strategy Group and serves on the Board of Directors of several non-profit organizations, including The Atlantic Council and the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.