The Foreign Service Journal, November 2014

16 NOVEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL guished Service Awards, two Distinguished Honor Awards, the 2006 Charles E. Cobb Jr. Ambassadorial Award for Initiative and Success in Trade Development, the 2005 Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for conflict resolution and peacemaking, and the James Clement Dunn Award. In 1994, he was named to Time magazine’s list of the “50 Most Promising American Leaders Under Age 40” and to Time ’s list of “100 Young Global Leaders.” Amb. Burns joined the American Foreign Service Association in 1982, the year he joined the Foreign Service. He has been a great supporter of the organization ever since. —Shawn Dorman, Editor Robert J. Silverman: Bill, thanks for your support of the For- eign Service and AFSA over the years. It’s been really tremendous. Looking back over a career spanning 33 years, can you give us some of your highlights? William J. Burns: First, it’s very nice to see you both. I’ve been extraordinarily fortunate over nearly 33 years in the Foreign Service, and had wonderful opportunities and terrific people to work with. I realize how lucky I’ve been. Within my first decade in the Foreign Service, I worked for Secretary [James] Baker as principal deputy director of the Policy Planning Staff during what was as exciting a period in American foreign policy as any I’ve lived and worked through—the end of the Cold War, breakup of the Soviet Union, Desert Storm, the Madrid Peace Conference and the reunification of Germany. It was a combination of fascinating and transformative events in the world, and some terrific people to learn from, including Secretary Baker, President George H. W. Bush, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and Larry Eagleburger, who sat in this office as Deputy Secretary of State at the time. That was a fascinating moment inmy career, fromwhich I learned a lot. I served a few years later as ambassador to Jordan during the period in which King Hussein died after 47 years on the throne. Jordan didn’t know a world without King Hussein. It was a challenging period in which to demonstrate the commitment of the United States, of Americans, to Jordanians as they made the quite successful transition fromKing Hussein to King Abdullah. I’ve loved the times I’ve worked in Russia, despite all the seri- ous complications between our governments. It’s a big, fascinat- ing society. And then, I guess the last thing I’d mention as a highlight is the secret bilateral negotiations we held with the Iranians on the nuclear issue last year. We were able, first, to do something in secret, which is not easy to do in this day and age; but second, to make enough progress to help produce a first agreement on the nuclear issue, which opened the door to some greater possibili- ties. It’s a tall order to walk through that door. And it remains a question whether the Iranians are going to take advantage of this opportunity. But it won’t be for lack of trying on our part. RJS: I know you’ll be remaining involved in those negotiations for some time, as well. As they say in the book of Joshua: Be strong and have good courage. You mentioned Secretary Powell and some of the other Secre- taries of State. You’ve worked with an incredibly impressive group of people over the years. Can you mention two or three of the career people that stand out in your mind? WJB: I’ve worked for 10 Secretaries of State during the course of my career, and admired and respected all of them. As I look at career role models, I think of Tom Pickering, for whom I worked in Moscow in the early- to mid-1990s, as somebody who’s always embodied for me the best of our profession. I’ve certainly learned a lot from him, not just in terms of diplomatic skill, but also in terms of decency and integrity, and the way in which he always conducted himself as a professional. I’ve also learned a lot from people whose names aren’t always in the newspaper, both in the Foreign Service and the Civil Service. And I’ll give you two examples of spectacularly talented, if unsung, professionals in the State Department—both civil servants. One is Jonathan Schwartz, now deputy legal advisor, who is about to retire, as well. Jonathan and I worked together on Middle Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton officiates at the swearing-in ceremony for Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns on Sept. 8, 2011. In attendance are Burns’ wife, Lisa Carty, center, and the couple’s daughters, Sarah, far right, and Elizabeth. U.S. Department of State