John Negroponte

Early life and education

Negroponte was born in London on July 21, 1939, to Greek parents Dimitrios Negrepontis (1915–1996) of the Negroponte family and Catherine Coumantaros (1917–2001). His father was a shipping magnate and alpine skier who competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics. Negroponte attended the Allen-Stevenson School and The Buckley School and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1956 and Yale University in 1960. He was a member of Fence Club (Psi Upsilon fraternity), alongside William H. T. Bush, the brother of President George H. W. Bush, and Porter Goss, who served as Director of Central Intelligence and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Negroponte from 2005 to 2006.

Career

Negroponte joined the United States Foreign Service in 1960. He served at eight different Foreign Service posts in Asia (including the U.S. Embassy, Saigon), Europe and Latin America, and he also held important positions at the State Department and the White House. As a young Foreign Service officer—one of the few men in Washington who dared to openly disagree with Henry Kissinger's secretive handling of the Vietnam peace talks—Negroponte attempted to convince his superior that any peace agreement negotiated without the consent of South Vietnam's leader Nguyen Van Thieu would fail. Seymour Hersh claims in his book The Price of Power that Kissinger never forgave Negroponte, and, upon becoming Secretary of State, exiled him to Quito, Ecuador. This was to be the beginning of Negroponte's long distinguished career as an ambassador. In 1981, he became the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras. From 1985 to 1987, Negroponte held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Subsequently, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, from 1987 to 1989; Ambassador to Mexico, from 1989 to 1993; and Ambassador to the Philippines from 1993 to 1996. As Deputy National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan, he was involved in the campaign to remove General Manuel Noriega from power in Panama. From 1997 until his appointment as ambassador to the U.N., Negroponte was an executive with McGraw-Hill.

Ambassador to Honduras (1981–1985)

From 1981 to 1985, Negroponte was the U.S. ambassador to Honduras. During this time, the US began to maintain a significant military presence there, with the goal of overthrowing the revolutionary Sandinista government of Nicaragua, which had overthrown the Somoza dictatorship in a civil war. Military aid to Honduras grew from $4 million to $77.4 million a year. Honduras also received over $200 million in economic aid.

In 1995, The Baltimore Sun published an extensive investigation of U.S. activities in Honduras. The investigation found that Negroponte was aware of human rights abuses being committed by Battalion 3–16, but these were deliberately omitted from reports submitted to Congress. Speaking of Negroponte and other senior U.S. officials, an ex-Honduran congressman, Efraín Díaz, was quoted as saying: "Their attitude was one of tolerance and silence. They needed Honduras to loan its territory more than they were concerned about innocent people being killed."

Substantial evidence later emerged to support the contention that Negroponte knew serious violations of human rights were being committed by the Honduran government, yet did not recommend ending U.S. military aid to Honduras. Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, on September 14, 2001, as reported in the Congressional Record, aired his concerns on the occasion of Negroponte's nomination to the position of UN ambassador:

Based upon the Committee's review of State Department and CIA documents, it would seem that Ambassador Negroponte knew far more about human rights abuses perpetrated by the Honduran government than he chose to share with the committee in 1989 or in embassy contributions at the time to annual State Department Human Rights reports.

Dodd cited a 1985 cable sent by Negroponte that made it clear that Negroponte was aware of and urged for reform to address the threat of "future human rights abuses" by "secret operating cells" left over by General Gustavo Álvarez Martínez, the chief of the Honduran armed forces, after he was forcibly removed from his post by fellow military commanders in 1984. The cables reveal that Negroponte repeatedly urged for updates to the Honduran criminal code and justice system to replace arbitrary measures taken by the Honduran government after events such as the destruction of the nation's main power plant at Tegucigalpa and the abduction of the entire business establishment of San Pedro Sula, Honduras' second largest city, in 1982. The previous U.S. ambassador to Honduras, Jack Binns, who was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, made numerous complaints about human rights abuses by the Honduran Army under the government of Policarpo Paz García. Binns later acknowledged that the Honduran Army was supported by military assistance from the Argentine junta and the CIA during the Carter administration, and that neither the Honduran government nor the CIA kept the embassy informed of what it was doing. The scale of the carnage in Honduras was limited to less than 300 'disappearances' during the five years of the Negroponte and Binns ambassadorships as compared with 70,000 lost lives as a result of civil war and repression in El Salvador, notwithstanding that Honduras was involved in a low-level civil war punctuated at times by invasions of its territory.

Assistant Secretary for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries (1985–1989)

In this posting, Negroponte together with Ambassador Richard Benedick negotiated the Montreal Protocol on Ozone, the most successful modern environmental treaty, overcoming opposition from Europe, Russia, and China and from some Reagan administration officials. He also fostered scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union, clashing with 'hard liners' like Richard Perle, as well as two treaties relating to cooperation in dealing with nuclear accidents in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster.

Ambassador to Mexico (1989–1993)

During Negroponte's tour as US Ambassador to Mexico, he was instrumental in persuading the Bush administration to respond to a Mexican initiative by negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) despite initial opposition by the U.S. Office of Trade Representative. His tenure in Mexico was thus the most consequential of any modern American ambassadorship. Another commentator noted the subsequent proliferation of Negroponte's vision in other free trade agreements. He officiated at the embassy where he liberalized visa practices.

Ambassador to the UN (2001–2004)

President George W. Bush nominated Negroponte to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in February 2001. There was substantial opposition to his nomination from Senate Democrats, and Negroponte was questioned over his knowledge of human rights abuses in Honduras while he was ambassador. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on September 15, 2001, four days after the September 11 attacks on the United States. In the New York Review of Books, Stephen Kinzer reported that a State Department official told him that "Giving him this job is a way of telling the UN: 'We hate you.'" Negroponte, however, warned the Bush administration about the adverse consequences of intervening in Iraq.

Negroponte "was instrumental in winning unanimous approval of a Security Council resolution that demanded Saddam Hussein comply with U.N. mandates to disarm".

Ambassador to Iraq (2004–2005)

On April 19, 2004, Negroponte was nominated by U.S. President George W. Bush to be the United States Ambassador to Iraq after the June 30 transfer of sovereignty to the new Iraqi government. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 6, 2004, by a vote of 95 to 3, and was sworn in on June 23, 2004, replacing L. Paul Bremer as the U.S.'s highest ranking American civilian in Iraq. He advised the Bush administration that security had to precede reconstruction in Iraq, organized a peaceful election, and gave advice, equally unwelcome to Secretary Rumsfeld and Democrats in Congress, that a five-year commitment would be required.

Director of National Intelligence (2005–2007)

On February 17, 2005, President George W. Bush named Negroponte as the first Director of National Intelligence, (DNI), a cabinet-level position charged with coordinating the nation's Intelligence Community. On April 21, 2005, Negroponte was confirmed by a vote of 98 to 2 in the Senate, and subsequently sworn into the office that was called "substantially stronger" than its predecessor position, the Director of Central Intelligence. Part of its power stemmed from the ability to "determine" budgets, prompting President Bush to remark, "That's why John Negroponte is going to have a lot of influence. He will set the budgets." The budget of the Intelligence Community was estimated at $40 billion.

A memorandum in the Federal Register signed May 5, 2006 by President Bush states that Negroponte, as intelligence czar, be delegated the authority to exempt companies from accurate accounting standards, a power previously reserved for the chief executive under the 1934 Securities Exchange Act.

Reaction in the intelligence community to Negroponte's nomination was, according to Newsweek, "overwhelmingly positive" because he had "earned the respect of many intel professionals since those early days of the Reagan counterinsurgency." The Times noted, "if anyone can bring a semblance of unity to America's bewildering network of competing spy agencies, it is John Negroponte." According to John MacGaffin, the CIA's former associate deputy director for clandestine operations, "This is a guy who plays hardball. He's a man who understands the whole range of counterintelligence, intelligence and covert action. They're all parts of foreign policy and protecting ourselves."

Congressional reaction from Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), then-vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), then-ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee was positive.

As DNI, Negroponte, "embarked on an impressive array of reform efforts", with "perhaps the most transformational work ... [involving] the effort to retool the creaky electronic infrastructure of the intelligence community." One of Negroponte's first tests was on an over-budget satellite system. The $25 billion system, called the "Future Imagery Architecture", was created as the "foundation for the next generation of America's space-based surveillance efforts." The reality was quite different, as it became, "a managerial nightmare – five years behind schedule and billions over budget. Poor quality control and technical problems raised questions about whether the system would ever work properly." Negroponte jettisoned half the classified project.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State (2007–2009)

On January 5, 2007, Negroponte announced his resignation as Director of National Intelligence and nomination to serve as Deputy Secretary of State under Secretary Condoleezza Rice. President George W. Bush swore him in on February 27, 2007, at the U.S. Department of State in the Benjamin Franklin Room.

As Deputy Secretary, Negroponte served as the principal deputy and adviser to the Secretary of State, acting as chief operating officer of the State Department and overseeing the formulation and conduct of U.S. foreign policy. President Bush emphasized at his swearing-in that Negroponte would "help guide diplomats deployed around the globe" and "work with Secretary Rice and the leaders of other federal agencies to ensure that America speaks with one voice."

Negroponte played a central role in Iraq policy during the Iraq War, drawing on his previous experience as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. In December 2007, he conducted an extensive six-day tour of Iraq, visiting nine locations across eight provinces—including Basrah, Fallujah, Ramadi, and Baghdad. During this visit, he met with over half of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams operating in Iraq, and emphasized the importance of following security gains with political reconciliation, warning that without progress, Iraq risked "falling back to the more violent patterns of the past."

Negroponte advocated for the International Compact with Iraq, a comprehensive economic reform initiative involving more than 70 countries and international organizations. He also promoted the Economic Empowerment in Strategic Regions Initiative, designed to harness private sector development in conflict areas—including the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, Iraq, and Mindanao in the Philippines.

Under Negroponte's leadership, the State Department pursued an aggressive economic diplomacy agenda. He championed the approval of four pending free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, arguing that their defeat would represent "a victory for Hugo Chávez of Venezuela." During his tenure, he noted that the Bush administration had negotiated more free trade agreements than all previous administrations combined, including agreements with the Dominican Republic, Central America (CAFTA-DR), Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, and Singapore.

Later career

Negroponte joined McLarty Associates, an international strategic advisory firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., in 2009. He serves on the Leadership Council of Concordia, a think tank based in New York City focused on promoting effective public–private collaboration for greater sustainability.

Opposition to Trump

Negroponte was one of 50 signatories of a statement concerning 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in which Trump was called "reckless" and stated that he would "put at risk our country's national security and well-being." In 2020, Negroponte, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him."

Personal life

Negroponte speaks five languages (English, French, Greek, Spanish, and Vietnamese). He is the elder brother of Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab and of the One Laptop per Child project. His brother Michel is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, and his other brother, George Negroponte, is an artist and was president of the Drawing Center of New York City from 2002 to 2007. Negroponte and his wife, Diana Mary Villiers (born August 14, 1947), have five adopted children, Marina, Alexandra, John, George and Sophia, all of whom were adopted from Honduras. Negroponte and his wife were married on December 14, 1971.

Recognition

National Security Medal

State Department Secretary's Distinguished Service Award with gold service star (in lieu of second award)

Lifetime Achievement Award, World Affairs Councils of America

Raymond "Jit" Trainor Award for Distinction in the Conduct of Diplomacy, Georgetown University, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (2005)

Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga of Latvia (2006)

George F. Kennan Award for Distinguished Public Service, National Committee on American Foreign Policy (2011)

Distinguished Service Award for the Advancement of Public Discourse on Foreign Policy, American Committees on Foreign Relations (2014)

Walter and Leonore Annenberg Award for Excellence in Diplomacy, The American Academy of Diplomacy (2019)