Jeffrey Feltman is the John C. Whitehead Visiting Fellow in International Diplomacy in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Washington-based United Nations Foundation and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute. He recently served as Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa for the Department of State.
Feltman served for nearly six years as Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs at the United Nations, where he was the chief foreign policy advisor to both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He frequently briefed the Security Council on peace and security issues, including terrorism and nuclear proliferation, as well as country-specific conflicts. He served as Chairperson of the U.N.’s Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force and Executive Director of the U.N. Counter-Terrorism Center and oversaw U.N. mediation and conflict prevention work. Feltman was a U.S. Foreign Service officer for over 26 years, focusing largely on the Middle East and North Africa. He served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2009-2012 and as U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon from 2004-2008, retiring from the State Department with the rank of Career Minister.
His research focuses on examining United Nations and other mediation efforts to improve multilateral conflict prevention and resolution. Feltman is a two-time winner of the Presidential Service Award and recipient of the James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence in Leadership and the Christian A. Herter Award for Constructive Dissent.
Feltman holds a Master’s in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a Bachelor’s degree in History and Art from Ball State University.