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Duration: 0:58:50

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

RYAN CROCKER is currently the first Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale University 2012-2013.  He also holds an appointment as the James Schlesinger Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. In August 2013 he will return to his position as Dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.

Ambassador Crocker retired from the Foreign Service in April 2009 after a career of over 37 years but was recalled to active duty by President Obama to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan in  2011. He has served as U.S. Ambassador six times: Afghanistan (2011-2012), Iraq (2007-2009), Pakistan (2004-2007), Syria (1998-2001), Kuwait (1994-1997), and Lebanon (1990-1993).   He has also served as the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College, where he joined the faculty in 2003. From May to August 2003, Ambassador Crocker was in Baghdad as the first Director of Governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from August 2001 to May 2003.  Since joining the Foreign Service in 1971, Ambassador Crocker also has had assignments in Iran, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt, as well as Washington. He was assigned to the American Embassy in Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the bombings of the embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983.

Ambassador Crocker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, in 2009.  His other awards include the Presidential Distinguished and Meritorious Service Awards, the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award (2008 and 2012), the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service (1997 and 2008) and for Distinguished Public Service (2012), the Award for Valor and the American Foreign Service Association Rivkin Award for creative dissent. He received  the National Clandestine Service’s Donovan Award in 2009 and the Director of Central Intelligence’s Director’s Award in 2012. In 2011, he was awarded the Marshall Medal by the Association of the United States Army. In May 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the establishment of the Ryan C. Crocker Award for Outstanding Achievement in Expeditionary Diplomacy. In July 2012, he was named an Honorary Marine, the 75^th civilian so honored in the 237 year history of the Corps.

ABOUT THE BERNARD BRODIE DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERIES

Established in 1980, the Bernard Brodie Distinguished Lecture on the Conditions of Peace celebrates the memory of Bernard Brodie as an eminent scholar and teacher. This lecture series provides a special forum for dignitaries and scholars of politics, strategy, warfare, and peace to present their views to the UCLA community and the public.

Sponsor(s): Burkle Center for International Relations, Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, Center for India and South Asia, Center for Middle East Development, Program on Central Asia