Walter Slocombe
Monday, July 16, 2018
Topic: Diplomacy or Force: The Ambiguous Lessons of History
Walter Becker Slocombe is a former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (1994–2001)[1] and was the Senior Advisor for Security and Defence to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003).
A lawyer and career federal official, Slocombe joined the staff of the National Security Council in 1969. Prior to that, he worked as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas.[2] He is a four-time recipient of an award for Distinguished Public Service and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He currently practices law with the Washington firm of Caplin & Drysdale.
Slocombe received a B.A. from Princeton University in 1963, where he received the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate. Slocombe was also a Rhodes scholar, studying at the University of Oxford from 1963-1965. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1968 and was admitted to the bar in 1970.
US Government Service:
- Committee on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction (2004)
- Senior advisor for the Coalition Provisional Authority (2003)
- Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (1994-2001)
- Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (1979-1981), (1993-1994)
- Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs (1977-1979)