The Foreign Service Journal, December 2021

20 DECEMBER 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FOCUS AFSA AWARDS: HONORING EXCELLENCE AND CONSTRUCTIVE DISSENT A Conversation with Ambassador John D. Negroponte 2021 Recipient of the AFSA Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy A mbassador John D. Negroponte, a former Deputy Secretary of State and a five-time chief of mission, is this year’s recipient of the American Foreign Service Association’s Award for Life- time Contributions to American Diplomacy. (For coverage of the ceremony, see AFSA News, p. 63. ) He is the 27th recipient of this prestigious award, given annually in recognition of a distinguished practitioner’s career and enduring devotion to diplomacy. Past honorees include George H.W. Bush, Thomas Pickering, Ruth Davis, George Shultz, Richard Lugar, Joan Clark, Ronald Neumann, Sam Nunn, Rozanne Ridgway, Nancy Powell, Thomas Boyatt, William Harrop, Herman “Hank” Cohen and Edward Perkins. John D. Negroponte was born in London, England, on July 21, 1939, and raised in New York City. He received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University after graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Following a brief period at Harvard Law School, he joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1960. His initial overseas postings included Hong Kong, Vietnam, France (as a staffer at the Paris Peace Talks), Ecuador and Greece. Stateside, he served in the Bureau of African Affairs, was a State Depart- ment Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and twice served on the National Security Council. In addition to serving as a deputy assistant secretary of State (1977-1979), deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1980-1981), assistant secretary in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (1985-1987) and deputy national security adviser to the National Security Council (1987-1989), Ambassador Negroponte was chief AdvancingNational Security ATHOME & ABROAD