The Council of American Ambassadors is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association of former and incumbent non-career United States Ambassadors. The organization provides advice and assistance to the U.S. Department of State, as appropriate, and endeavors to educate the public on foreign policy issues affecting the national interest.

History

The American tradition of citizen diplomacy began in the 18th century when the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as Minister Plenipotenitary to the Court of France.

Following in Dr. Franklin’s footsteps, Americans, including Washington Irving, James Longstreet, Ellsworth Bunker, John Sherman Cooper, C. Douglas Dillon, Michael J. Mansfield, George H. W. Bush, Paul H. Nitze and hundreds of others, have left the private sector or other governmental (non-diplomatic) responsibilities at the President’s call to serve in a diplomatic capacity on behalf of the United States.

These citizen diplomats bring to their ambassadorial assignments important knowledge and experience accumulated from successful careers in academia, business, the law, the arts, the military and political and public life.

In 1983, a group of former citizen or non-career Ambassadors met to organize the Council in an effort to support and encourage the Foreign Service, enhance the image of the State Department in the nation and in the Congress, and to recognize the achievements and contributions of non-career diplomats in the conduct of America’s foreign policy.

Kenneth Rush, former Deputy Secretary of State and Ambassador to Germany, and William J. vanden Heuvel, former Ambassador to the United Nations, served as founding Co-Chairmen. Marvin Warner, former Ambassador to Switzerland, was the founding President and Milton Wolf, former Ambassador to Austria, was Vice Chairman. Angier Biddle Duke, Averell Harriman, John Sherman Cooper and Ellsworth Bunker were there at the beginning.

Council members are both retired and on active duty. Members bridge both political parties and many Administrations and link the private and public sectors.

Mission

"The Council of American Ambassadors is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association of more than 200 former and incumbent non-career United States ambassadors that supports the role of the American ambassador and the country team in carrying out U.S. foreign policy at embassies around the world. In this connection, it provides advice and assistance to the U.S. Department of State, as appropriate, and endeavors to educate the public on foreign policy issues affecting the national interest."

Leadership

Ambassador Abelardo L. Valdez currently serves as President of the Council of American Ambassadors. The Council of American Ambassadors' Board of Directors is composed of Officers and Directors. A full list of board members and biographical information is available on the Council of American Ambassadors' Web site. The Council of American Ambassadors has its headquarters in Washington, DC.

Programs

The Council of American Ambassadors has eight primary programs:

International Affairs Fellowship Program

The Council of American Ambassadors International Affairs Fellowship program enables six undergraduate students per year to come to Washington, D.C. and participate in a prestigious summer program that combines mentoring by former U.S. ambassadors, practical training through internships at the Department of State and academic studies in international affairs.

Students that are selected for a D.C.-based summer internship at the Department of State may apply for the CAA Fellowship. While interning at the Department of State, CAA Fellows receive advice and guidance from former U.S. ambassadors, who are members of the CAA and who serve as mentors, meeting with the Fellows on a regular basis during their stay in Washington, D.C. to discuss international affairs issues and careers. Additionally the Fellows, through the Engalitcheff Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems (ICPES) of The Fund for American Studies, undertake summer courses at Georgetown University for academic credit, reside in university housing and participate in lectures and visits to key institutions of national government.

An International Affairs Fellowship Alumni Association was established on May 5, 2008, to serve as a resource for current and future Council fellows and provides members with the opportunity to network and share experiences in the fields of international affairs and diplomacy. The Alumni Association enables former fellows to remain actively engaged in the work of the Council while encouraging a lifelong commitment to international affairs and diplomacy.

Public Diplomacy Fellowship

The Council of American Ambassadors' Public Diplomacy Fellowship combines on-the-job training with academic study and mentoring by former United States ambassadors, public diplomacy/ public affairs officers and media/communications executives. Its purpose is to enhance the conduct and practice of U.S. public diplomacy through the provision of specialized training and mentoring opportunities for junior Public Diplomacy officers.

The Fellowship is integrated into a Washington-based Foreign Service public diplomacy/public affairs position at the Department of State. Activities are spread out over a one-year period and include participation in an intensive two-week seminar at the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California (USC), regular mentoring sessions with members of the Council of American Ambassadors, the Public Diplomacy Council and Meridian International Center and structured networking opportunities with representatives from the media and cultural institutions. At the conclusion of the program, Fellows prepare an article for the Council's publication, The Ambassadors REVIEW.

Conferences

The Council of American Ambassadors convenes conferences twice a year. One conference takes place in Washington, D.C.; the other is held in another locate in the United States. These briefings afford members an opportunity to participate in discussions of key foreign policy issues with leading officials of the Administration, the Departments of Commerce, Defense and State, the Congress, and additional representatives and public policy practitioners.

International Missions

The organization sponsors an international mission program to conduct on-the-spot investigations of national and/or regional conditions. Planned in consultation with the host country government and the U.S. Embassies and the country desk officers of the State Department, these visits provide an in-depth perspective in areas of particular interest. The delegation presents its findings in a published report.

Council of American Ambassadors' delegations have previously traveled to Denmark, Sweden and Norway (2011); Canada (Fall 2007); Mexico (Spring 2007); Venezuela, Colombia and Nicaragua (2006); Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia (2005); Poland and Romania (2004); Turkey (NATO) and Belgium (EU) (2002); China (2001); Argentina, Brazil and Chile (2000); Ireland and Northern Ireland (1999); Haiti (1995); Russia (Fall 1994); Cuba, co-sponsored with the Council on Foreign Relations (Spring 1994); Israel (1993); Canada (1992); Mexico (1991); Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Hungary (1990); China (1986); and NATO Headquarters (1985).

Ambassadors Roundtable

The Ambassadors Roundtable is a quarterly luncheon series which provides an opportunity for Council members to engage in off-the-record, meaningful dialogues with Chiefs of Foreign Missions currently accredited to the White House. Brief opening remarks by the guest speaker are followed by substantive discussion.

American Ambassadors Forum

The American Ambassadors Forum is a series of lectures/dialogues in cities around the country that fosters a greater understanding of foreign policy issues among citizens, particularly youth, thereby empowering them to make informed decisions about the world in which they live. Forum speakers include Council members and leading policy experts. The American Ambassadors Forum is co-sponsored by colleges and universities and/or research institutions and think tanks which often provide the facilities for the Forum, publicize the event and invite local citizens to participate.

The inaugural American Ambassadors Forum, "Public Diplomacy & America's Image in the World" was held in the Bunn Intercultural Center Auditorium at Georgetown University on April 20, 2004.

Ambassadorial Orientations

The Council of American Ambassadors’ Ambassadorial Orientation Program enables newly-appointed non-career ambassadors and their spouses to meet, hear from and share experiences with those who preceded them in the field.

Through the orientation program, the Council makes available its greatest resource—the knowledge and experience of its members—to ambassadors-designate and their spouses to promote diplomatic readiness and ensures that newly-appointed ambassadors have the tools to succeed in their positions as well-rounded and knowledgeable representatives of the President of the United States.

The Benjamin Franklin Award for Outstanding Diplomatic Service

The Benjamin Franklin Award for Outstanding Diplomatic Service of the Council of American Ambassadors honors individuals who have left their status as private citizens at the President’s call to serve in a diplomatic capacity on behalf of the United States. It bears the name of Benjamin Franklin, America’s first citizen diplomat, as a tribute to the exceptional diplomatic tradition that he inaugurated.

Past Benjamin Franklin Award recipients are President George H.W. Bush (1992); The Honorable Michael J. Mansfield (1994); The Honorable George S. McGovern (2003); The Honorable Robert D. Stuart, Jr. (2003); and The Honorable James A. Baker, III (2008).

Publications

The Ambassadors REVIEW is the foreign affairs journal of the Council of American Ambassadors. Published twice a year, The REVIEW features reports and articles written by former and sitting Ambassadors, members of the Administration and the Congress and other eminent policy practitioners and scholars.

Circulation includes the President and Vice President of the United States, members of the Cabinet and Congress, the Joint Chiefs and the Joint Staff and the National Security Council, all United States and foreign Embassies, US Governors, United Nations officials, the War Colleges and the Service Academies, the press, and leading representatives of the foreign affairs community.

The Editor of The REVIEW is Ogden Reid, former Ambassador to Israel, Congressman and President and Editor of the New York Herald Tribune, Inc. and the New York Herald Tribune S.A.