Dr. Robert Mikulak was confirmed by the Senate on September 29, 2010 as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), located in The Hague, The Netherlands, with the rank of Ambassador.
Prior to this appointment, Dr. Mikulak was the Director of the Office of Chemical and Biological Weapons Threat Reduction in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation at the Department of State. In this position he was responsible for development of policy related to nonproliferation of chemical and biological weapons, including negotiation and implementation of corresponding international agreements, related export controls, and international efforts to prevent chemical and biological terrorism. He also chaired the interagency backstopping committees for chemical and biological weapons arms control and nonproliferation. He had held that position since 1996. Dr. Mikulak also was the United States Representative to the OPCW’s Executive Council.
Dr. Mikulak served between 1993 and 1996 as the Deputy Head of the United States Delegation to the Chemical Weapons Convention Preparatory Commission in The Hague, The Netherlands. Before this he served in the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for 22 years, holding a series of increasingly responsible positions related to prohibition of chemical and biological weapons. He was a senior U.S. negotiator during the negotiation of the 1989 and 1990 U.S.-Soviet agreements on chemical weapons and the multilateral 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention.
In 1992 Dr. Mikulak received the Hillard Roderick Prize in Arms Control from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2001, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a member of the U.S. government’s Senior Executive Service.
Dr. Mikulak received his undergraduate education at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
