Panel Discussion on Diplomacy and Nonproliferation

Avis T. Bohlen was sworn in on November 24, 1999 as Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Arms Control. Ms. Bohlen joined the Foreign Service in 1977 and had several assignments in the Bureau of European Affairs. She served as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria (1996-99); Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France (1991-95); and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs (1989-91) with responsibility for European security issues.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ms. Bohlen worked for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1974-77) and was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions (MBFR) talks in Vienna.

Joseph Cirincione joined Ploughshares Fund as president in March 2008. He is author of Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapons and served previously as senior vice president for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress and as director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He worked for nine years in the U.S. House of Representatives as a professional staff member of the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Government Operations, and served as staff director of the bipartisan Military Reform Caucus. He teaches at the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ambassador Marc Grossman was sworn in as Under Secretary for Political Affairs in March 2001. He has been a career Foreign Service Officer since 1976. He was Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources, from June 2000 to February 2001, and Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, from August 1997 to May 2000. From November 1994 to June 1997, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Turkey. Prior to this, from January 1993 to September 1994, he was Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and Executive Secretary of the Department of State.