Kurt Volker

Kurt Volker is a Senior Fellow and Managing Director of the Center on Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He is also Senior Advisor at the Atlantic Council of the United States and a member of its Strategic Advisory Group. Prior to joining SAIS, Ambassador Volker was a career member of the United States Senior Foreign Service, with over 23 years of experience working on European political and security issues. He served as Ambassador and the 19th U.S. Permanent Representative to the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from July 2008 until May 2009. Before serving at NATO, Ambassador Volker served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs from July 2005 until June 2008, where he was responsible for U.S. policy on U.S.-European Union relations, NATO, the OSCE, working with Europe on global challenges such as climate change, as well as numerous bilateral relationships. Ambassador Volker had previously served as Acting Senior Director for European and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) and for four years as Director for NATO and West Europe. During his time at the NSC, Ambassador Volker was responsible for U.S. preparations for the NATO’s 60th Anniversary Summit, which took place in Strasbourg, France and Kehl, Germany in April 2009, and prior to that the 2004 NATO Istanbul Summit and 2002 Prague Summit.