Thomas Countryman

Thomas Countryman is the Board Chairman of the Arms Control Association. He was the acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. He served for 35 years as a member of the U.S. Foreign Service until January 2017, achieving the rank of minister-counselor, and was appointed in October 2016 to the position of acting undersecretary of state. He simultaneously served as assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, a position he had held since September 2011.

As Acting Under Secretary, Mr Countryman advises the Secretary on arms control, nonproliferation, disarmament and political-military affairs. Prior to his position as Assistant Secretary, he served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European Affairs, and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Since 1982, Mr Countryman has served at U.S. embassies in Belgrade, Cairo, Athens and Rome. From 1994 to 1997, he was responsible for advising Ambassador Albright on Middle East affairs at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and served as liaison with the UN Special Commission investigating Iraq’s weapons programs.

From 1997 to 1998, Mr Countryman served as Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs on the National Security Council staff, with responsibility for the region stretching from Morocco to Syria, and serving as the White House representative on Ambassador Dennis Ross’ peace process team.

From 2001 to 2005, he was the Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the American Embassy in Rome, Italy. He served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece, from 2005 to 2008, including as the Chargé d’Affaires for five months in 2007.