The Foreign Service Journal, March 2011

M A R C H 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 er, his commitment to U.S. foreign re- lations came from study and a personal appreciation that the global challenge of communismwas one that the gener- ation following World War II was des- tined to face. Isaiah Berlin divides people into “hedgehogs” and “foxes” — the foxes know and pursue many truths, and the hedgehog knows one great truth. Mike was the consummate hedgehog, and his truth was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance and the effort to protect Europe and the West from Soviet domination. After the standard variety of intro- ductory Foreign Service assignments, Mike was sent as the politico-military specialist to Embassy Paris, where I met him. There he developed a life- time appreciation of the value of NATO-U.S. relations and the profes- sional skill to know how to maximize the “possible” from the starting point of disagreement. Following high-level assignments at State and the Pentagon (where he was one of the authors of the “3-percent so- lution” to increase NATO conventional force strength and upgrade theater nu- clear forces), Mike was assigned as deputy chief of mission for the U.S. Mission to NATO. There he encoun- tered intermediate-range nuclear forces close up and personal — the challenge that would occupy the bulk of his pro- fessional career. The long saga of the INF is re- counted in The Last Battle of the Cold War , Mike’s tour-de-force analysis (both strategic and tactical) of negoti- ating effectively with Soviets while managing the vagaries of the NATO al- liance and the Washington interagency process. Which element was more dif- ficult on a given day was never pre- dictable. Mike’s ability to balance all of the contending elements was remarkable; his ability to meld an interagency “team of rivals” into a coherent negotiating team was unique. It was appropriate, albeit accidental, that in 1987 Presi- dents Ronald Reagan andMikkail Gor- bachev signed the INF Treaty on his birthday, Dec. 8. For more than 23 years now, Mike’s team has met in early December for an INF reunion/birthday party. In years to come, we will continue to honor our L E T T E R S