Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr.
Guest Scholar
U.S. Foreign Policy | Political Islam | Peacekeeping | Religious Conflict | Rule of Law | Terrorism and Extremism | Civil-Military Relations | Conflict Management | Democratization | Economic and Ethnic Conflict | Human Rights | Negotiations, Peace Talks, Mediation | Middle East | Middle East: Iraq | Asia: Southeast | Turkey | Iran
Phone: (202) 429-4771
E-mail: fricciardone@usip.org
Languages: Italian, Arabic, Turkish, and French
Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. is on leave from the U.S. Department of State as a guest scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has served as U.S. Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt (2005–2008), the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of Palau (2002–2005). As a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, he received U.S. Government and other organization awards for his work in foreign policy and program management, political reporting and analysis, and peacekeeping.
Ricciardone has extensive diplomatic experience with Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Italy and Jordan. He has also served in two multinational military deployments: as chief of the Civilian Observer Unit of the Multinational Force and Observers in Egypt's Sinai Desert, and as political advisor to the U.S. and Turkish commanding generals of Operation Provide Comfort, based in Turkey and operating in Iraq. In Washington, Ricciardone directed the Department of State's 9/11 Task Force on the Coalition Against Terrorism and served as the Secretary of State's special coordinator for the Transition of Iraq (1999–2001). He also has served in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and in senior management positions under the director general of the Foreign Service and of Human Resources.
Before entering the Foreign Service in 1978, Ricciardone was a Fulbright Scholar and schoolteacher in Italy (1973–76) and Iran (1976–1978), and traveled widely in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. He was born in Boston and graduated from Malden Catholic High School and Dartmouth College.
Other:
- Promoting Democracy in Egypt
Conference Paper (May 2008)
- Examining Egypt’s Leadership in the Region
Interview (The Middle East Review, May 2008).
- "al-'Ashara Masa'en/10:00 p.m."
Interview in Arabic (Egyptian Independent Dream Satellite Television, February 2007).
- "Supporting a Transition to Democracy in Iraq," Middle East Policy, (vol 7, no. 4 (October 2000), p. 141-143).
