Richard Kauzlarich
Since 2014, Ambassador Richard Kauzlarich has been Co-Director of the Center for Energy Science and Policy at George Mason University. As a Distinguished Visiting Professor, he also teaches courses on the Geopolitics of Energy Security and Policy Communication at Mason’s Schar School of Policy and Government. From 2011 to 2013, he was Deputy Director of the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) in Mason’s School of Public Policy. He served as National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Europe on the National Intelligence Council (NIC) from September 2003 to April 2011. Before his service on the NIC, he was Director of the Special Initiative on the Muslim World at the United States Institute of Peace. Ambassador Kauzlarich joined the Institute in spring 2002 after a 32-year career in the Foreign Service. He served as United States Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997-99 and Azerbaijan in 1994-97. He was Senior Deputy to the Secretary of State’s and the President’s Special Representative to the Newly Independent States (NIS) in 1993-94. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European Affairs in 1991-93, responsible for relations with the former Soviet Union and economic ties with the European Union. Ambassador Kauzlarich also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs in 1984-86 and as Deputy Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff in 1986-89, handling global and international economic issues. He was also Director of the Department of State’s Operations Center 1983-84. Ambassador Kauzlarich has served at US Embassies in Ethiopia, Israel, and Togo.
In December 2001, the Century Foundation published his report, “Time for Change? US Policy in the Transcaucasus.” He is a co-author of “Aid During Conflict: Interaction Between Military and Civilian Assistance Providers in Afghanistan, September 2001-June 2002,” published by RAND in 2004. He also co-authored “Strategic International Engagement at the Local & Regional Level: The Case of Northern Virginia,” published by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in 2021. Ambassador Kauzlarich received his AA from Black Hawk College, his BA from Valparaiso University, and his MAs from Indiana University and the University of Michigan. He was a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Foreign Policy Program with the Center on the United States and Europe. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Joint Forces Staff College of National Defense University. He is a member of the National Council of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Cyber Operations/IT Advisory Council at Valparaiso University and a member of the advisory board of Clean Trade. He served as Board Chair of Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area.