Colonel William A. Phillips

Alexander Russell "Sandy" Vershbow (born July 3, 1952) is an American diplomat and former Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

From October 2005 to October 2008, he was the United States Ambassador to South Korea. Before that post he had been the ambassador to the Russian Federation from 2001 to 2005 and the ambassador to NATO from 1997 to 2001.^[1] For his work with NATO he was awarded the State Department's Distinguished Service Award.

In March 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Vershbow as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, a position that holds responsibility for U.S. policy toward NATO, coordination of U.S. security and defense policies relating to the nations and international organizations of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.^[2] He was confirmed in April 2009.^[3]

After almost three years with the U.S. Department of Defense, in February 2012, Vershbow moved back to Brussels where he took the position of Deputy Secretary General of NATO, becoming the first American to hold the position.^[4]

Early life and education

Vershbow was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Arthur Vershbow and Charlotte Vershbow (née Zimmerman), both of German descent.^[5]

Vershbow attended the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School before moving on to Yale College, from which he graduated in 1974 in Russian and East European Studies. He earned an MA at Columbia University in 1976 in International Relations and Certificate of the Russian Institute.^[6] He learned to play the drums at a young age and kept up his passion abroad including occasionally playing in bands with other Ambassadors while on foreign assignments.^[7]

Career

National Security Council

Vershbow was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council (1994–97). He was the first recipient of the Department of Defense's Joseph J. Kruzel Award for his contributions to peace in the former Yugoslavia (1997).

Ambassador to Russia

Vershbow was US ambassador to Russia from 2001 to 2005. He is famous for ignoring the official ceremony of giving his letter of credence to Russian President Vladimir Putin, for which the reason of "a planned vacation" was given.^[8] During his tenure the Embassy publicly supported the candidacy of Elena Mizulina whose political party advocated for the legalization of prostitution. The US Office of Trafficking in Persons and American NGO MiraMed Institute, which was the first nonprofit to work against trafficking of women and girls from Russia, brought pressure to have Ambassador Vershbow to withdraw his support since it was contrary to U.S. policy. In response, he requested an OIG investigation into the finances of MiraMed Institute which found no serious irregularities.

Ambassador to South Korea

Early in his tenure as ambassador to South Korea he generated controversy by continuing the hard line on North Korea begun by his predecessor Christopher R. Hill. He pressed North Korea on the issues of human rights and superdollars, calling the government a "criminal regime",^[9][10] and called on them to return to the Six-Party Talks.^[10][11] One South Korean lawmaker even tried to have him expelled from the country.^[12] In January 2006 his attempt to meet with the Korea Internet Journalists' Association, which describes itself as 'progressive', was blocked by protestors from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.^[13][14]

Together with Hill, who was the Assistant Secretary of State, Vershbow also pioneered a strategy of speaking directly to the Korean people through the internet and by actually appearing and speaking at street rallies.^[15][16]

Vershbow spoke out in favor of the expansion of the U.S. base at Pyeongtaek. Some local residents demonstrated against the expansion; Vershbow asserted that they were "out of step" with the sentiments of most residents of the area.^{[citation needed]}

Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs

Vershbow was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (ISA).^[17] In a July 2010 organization chart he was shown as five ASD's serving under Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy, with the other four being Wallace Gregson, Paul Stockton, Michael Nacht, and Michael G. Vickers.^[18]

Vershbow was leading sessions for the chief of staff of Egypt's armed forces, Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Enan, and a delegation in Washington in January 2011, when the visit was truncated due to concurrent Egyptian protests.^[19]

NATO Deputy Secretary General

Vershbow was the Deputy Secretary General of NATO from February 2012 to October 2016 after serving for three years in the Pentagon as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. While in Brussels, Vershbow argued that partnerships are "a necessity, not a luxury" stressing that NATO's partnerships have helped to consolidate peace and stability in Europe, and to extend stability beyond the Alliance's borders.^[20] In remarks to a small groups of reporters on May 2, 2014, reported by AP, Vershbow said that after two decades of trying to build a partnership with Russia, NATO now feels compelled to start treating Moscow as an adversary. "Clearly the Russians have declared NATO as an adversary, so we have to begin to view Russia no longer as a partner but as more of an adversary than a partner," he said, adding that Russia's annexation of Crimea and its apparent manipulation of unrest in eastern Ukraine have fundamentally changed the NATO-Russia relationship.^[21] Near the end of his tenure Vershbow was awarded the 'Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown' in recognition of his years of distinguished service for the Alliance.^[22]

Atlantic Council

Following his career in public service, Vershbow joined the Atlantic Council as Distinguished Fellow, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. He has become a frequent media commentator on national security affairs and predicted the Russian government would not respond militarily to the Trump administration's bombing of Syria in response to the Asad regime's use of chemical weapons in 2017.^[23]

Rasmussen Global

Vershbow also acts as a senior advisor to Anders Fogh Rasmussen's political consultancy firm Rasmussen Global^[24] where he offers advice on transatlantic relations and foreign policy.

Personal life

Vershbow's wife, Lisa Vershbow, is a designer of contemporary jewelry.^[6] They have two sons together.^[25]

Honours

•  Poland : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2016)^[26]
•  Georgia: Order of the Golden Fleece (2016)^[27]
•  Belgium: Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Crown, 2016.^[28][29]

References

External links

• Alexander "Sandy" Vershbow at Atlantic Council
• Vershbow's profile at the U.S. Department of Defense
• About ambassador^{[permanent dead link]} (embassy biography page in Seoul, 2008)
• USA Embassy in the Russian Federation
• Audio/Video recordings of Alexander Vershbow discussing "The Current Security and Economic Situation on the Korean Peninsula," from the University of Chicago's World Beyond the Headlines series
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Alexander Vershbow on Charlie Rose