The Foreign Service Journal, December 2018

22 DECEMBER 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL sections—a posting that included a three-month stint as chargé d’affaires in Banjul. After that, Ambassador Neumann spent most of his Foreign Service career on regional issues related to the Middle East and South Asia. After overseas assignments as principal officer in Tabriz (1976) and deputy chief of mission in Sana’a (1981-1983) and Abu Dhabi (1987-1990), Amb. Neumann served three times as chief of mission: in Algeria (1994-1997), Bahrain (2001-2004) and Afghanistan (2005-2007). He may well be the only three- time ambassador whose father was also a three-time chief of mission, though Robert Neumann’s postings were all political appointments: to Afghanistan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. (The only other father-son pair of ambassadors to serve in the same capital are John Adams and John Quincy Adams; both served as ministers to Britain.) From 2004 to 2005, immediately before his posting to Kabul, Amb. Neumann also served in Baghdad with the Coalition Pro- visional Authority, and then as the embassy’s political/military liaison with the Multi-National Force–Iraq, where he was deeply involved in coordinating the political part of military actions. In Washington, his assignments included: political officer in the Office of Southern European Affairs (1976-1977), staff assistant in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (1977-1979) and Jordan desk officer (1979-1981). Later in his career, he was director of NEA’s Office of Northern Gulf Affairs, responsible for relations with Iran and Iraq (1991-1994), and an NEA deputy assistant secretary with responsibility for North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula (1997-2000). Following his retirement from the Senior Foreign Service in 2007, Amb. Neumann became president of the American Acad- emy of Diplomacy, a position he continues to hold today. In that capacity, he leads an ongoing effort to strengthen U.S. diplo- macy, including both the Foreign Service and Civil Service, and enable their members to effectively develop and carry out U.S. foreign policy by upgrading their professional formation. Toward this end, AAD has issued a series of seminal reports, including “American Diplomacy at Risk” and “Support for American Jobs.” Amb. Neumann serves on the Advisory Committee of the School of Leadership, Afghanistan, a nonprofit school for girls, and on the Advisory Board of Spirit of America. He is also on the board of the Middle East Policy Council and on the Advisory Council of the World Affairs Councils of America. The author of The Other War: Winning and Losing in Afghani- stan (Potomac Press, 2009) and Three Embassies, Four Wars: A Personal Memoir (XLibris, 2017), Amb. Neumann has publishe d numerous op-eds, monographs and articles on Afghanistan and other foreign policy topics. He speaks Arabic, Dari and French. He received State Department Superior Honor Awards in 1990 and 1993; and for his service in Baghdad, he was awarded the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal. He is married to the former M. Elaine Grimm. They have two grown children. Amb. Neumann has made a major contribution to strength- ening the professional Foreign Service. He is a natural choice for this award. FSJ Editor Shawn Dorman conducted the following interview with Amb. Neumann in October. Photos are courtesy of Amb. Neumann. FSJ: I understand you decided to apply to the Foreign Service while you were still in high school. Did your father’s experience as ambassador to Afghanistan shape that choice, or were other factors involved? Ronald E. Neumann: My father was still a university profes- sor when I decided on a Foreign Service career. However, he had Lt. Ron Neumann heading out on patrol in Vietnam, 1969.