Robert B. Oakley

Robert B. Oakley "is a member of the faculty in the Institute for National Strategic Studies at National Defense University. After graduating from Princeton University in 1952, Ambassador Oakley had a distinguished career in the Foreign Service during which he served in embassies in Abidjan, Saigon, Paris, and Beirut. In 1977 he was named Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Zaire from November 1979 until August 1982 and then became Ambassador to Somalia where he served until September 1984. Next he became Director of the State Department Office of Combatting Terrorism. On January 1, 1987, he was named to the National Security Council Staff as Assistant to the President for Middle East and South Asia, and in August 1988 became Ambassador to Pakistan. In December 1992, President Bush named Ambassador Oakley Special Envoy for Somalia and he served there with Operation Restore Hope until March 1993. Later that year, in October, President Bill Clinton called Ambassador Oakley back to this challenge, in which he served until March 1994."


 * External Researcher, Strategic Studies Institute
 * Board of Overseers (2006), International Rescue Committee