Ambassador Daniel Fried

Guest Author

Ambassador Daniel Fried (@AmbDanFried) is Weiser Family Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council. In the course of his 40-year Foreign Service career, Ambassador Fried played a key role in designing and implementing American policy in Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union. As Special Assistant and NSC Senior Director for Presidents Clinton and Bush, Ambassador to Poland, and Assistant Secretary of State for Europe (2005-09), Ambassador Fried helped craft the policy of NATO enlargement to Central European nations and, in parallel, NATO-Russia relations, thus advancing the goal of Europe whole, free, and at peace. During those years, the West’s community of democracy and security grew in Europe. Ambassador Fried helped lead the West’s response to Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine starting in 2014: as State Department Coordinator for Sanctions Policy, he crafted U.S. sanctions against Russia, the largest U.S. sanctions program to date, and negotiated the imposition of similar sanctions by Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia.

Ambassador Fried became one of the U.S. government’s foremost experts on Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. While a student, he lived in Moscow, majored in Soviet Studies and History at Cornell University (BA magna cum laude 1975) and received an MA from Columbia’s Russian Institute and School of International Affairs in 1977. He joined the U.S. Foreign Service later that year, serving overseas in Leningrad (Human Rights, Baltic affairs, and Consular Officer), and Belgrade (Political Officer); and in the Office of Soviet Affairs in the State Department.

As Polish Desk Officer in the late 1980s, Fried was one of the first in Washington to recognize the impending collapse of Communism in Poland, and helped develop the immediate response of the George H.W. Bush Administration to these developments. As Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw (1990-93), Fried witnessed Poland’s difficult but ultimately successful free market, democratic transformation, working with successive Polish governments.

Ambassador Fried also served as the State Department’s first Special Envoy for the Closure of the Guantanamo (GTMO) Detainee Facility. He established procedures for the transfer of individual detainees and negotiated the transfers of 70 detainees to 20 countries, with improved security outcomes.

Ambassador Fried is currently a Weiser Family Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is also on the Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy and a Visiting Professor at Warsaw University.

Articles by this author:

Navalny’s Death and the Kremlin

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Feb 16th, 2024

The Just Security Podcast: Recapping the NATO Summit

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Jul 12th, 2023

At the NATO Summit, Do the Right Thing for Ukraine’s — and Democracy’s — Future

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Jul 7th, 2023

На саміті НАТО, робіть правильні речі для майбутнього України та демократії

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Jul 7th, 2023

Congress Can Investigate the Afghanistan Withdrawal Without Compromising a Vital Dissent Channel

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Apr 7th, 2023

To Secure Peace in Europe, Bring Ukraine into NATO

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Mar 13th, 2023

Війна Путіна проти України та ризики поспішного ведення переговорів

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Nov 9th, 2022

Putin’s War Against Ukraine and the Risks of Rushing to Negotiations

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Nov 9th, 2022

Боротьба з ядерним шантажем Путіна

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Sep 28th, 2022

Dealing with Putin’s Nuclear Blackmail

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Sep 28th, 2022

Наступний акт Путіна в Україні – і як США та союзники можуть підготуватися

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Apr 15th, 2022

Putin’s Next Play in Ukraine – And How the US and Allies Can Prepare

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Apr 15th, 2022

In 11th-Hour Diplomacy, US and Europe Try to Stop Putin From Escalating War on Ukraine

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Feb 13th, 2022

As Putin Aims to Re-Divide Europe, Lessons from the Past Can Guide a Response

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Jan 7th, 2022

Escalating Risks on Europe’s Eastern Frontier: Belarus-Poland, Russia-Ukraine, and How the US Can Work With Its Allies

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Nov 15th, 2021

Restraint and Values in American Strategy

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Sep 15th, 2021

How to Put Lukashenka in His Place

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Aug 4th, 2021