David G. Newton

Ambassador David Newton "is currently an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He returned to the United States at the end of 2004 after having served for six years in Prague as the first director of Radio Free Iraq, part of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. Shortly before that appointment he had retired from a thirty-six year career in the Foreign Service, having served as ambassador to Yemen (1994-97) and as the first ambassador to Iraq (1984-88) following the resumption of diplomatic relations. Other Foreign Service tours included deputy chief of mission in Yemen and Syria, political counselor in Saudi Arabia, and Department of State assignments as director for Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, as Near East division chief in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research and as economic officer for the Arabian Peninsula. From 1990 to 1993 he was International Affairs Advisor and Chairman of the National Security Policy Department at the National War College, also working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency on Iraq and doing extensive public speaking in support of Desert Shield/ Desert Storm.

"In February 1998, immediately after Foreign Service retirement, he was appointed a Special Envoy for Public Diplomacy, traveling to twelve Arab countries to explain U.S. policy on Iraq to the media and the public. During his Foreign Service career he received a Presidential Meritorious Service award for his Iraq assignment, numerous Department of State awards and the Department of the Army medal for outstanding civilian service. Ambassador Newton is a graduate of Harvard College (archaeology and anthropology), the University of Michigan (M.A. in Islamic history and Arabic literature) and the National War College. From 1958 to 1961 he served as an artillery officer with the 3rd Armored Division in Germany. He is a member of the Middle East Institute, the Middle East Studies Association, the Public Diplomacy Council, and the Cosmos Club."