Ambassador (ret.) Richard D. Kauzlarich is co-director of the Center for Energy Science and Policy in the School of Policy in the Department of Government and International Affairs at George Mason University (GMU). He also is an adjunct professor teaching courses in energy security and policy communication. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in the Foreign Policy program, working with the Center on the United States and Europe. He is also a visiting fellow at the Joint Forces Staff College of National Defense University.

From June 2001 to December 2013, Ambassador Kauzlarich was deputy director of the Center for Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption at GMU. He served as national intelligence officer for Europe on the National Intelligence Council from September 2003 to April 2011. Prior to that position, he was director of the Special Initiative on the Muslim World at the United States Institute of Peace.

Ambassador Kauzlarich joined the U.S. Institute of Peace in 2002 after a 32-year career in the Foreign Service. He served as United States ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997-99 and to Azerbaijan in 1994-97. He was senior deputy to the secretary of state and the president’s special representative to the New Independent States 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 in 1983-84. In addition to his ambassadorial assignments, Kauzlarich has served at U.S. embassies in Ethiopia, Israel, and Togo.

In December 2001, the Century Foundation published Ambassador Kauzlarich’s report, “Time for Change? U.S. Policy in the Transcaucasus.” He is a coauthor of Aid During Conflict: Interaction Between Military and Civilian Assistance Providers in Afghanistan, September 2001-June 2002 (RAND, 2004).

Ambassador Kauzlarich earned a B.A. from Valparaiso University, an M.A. in political and administrative developments from Indiana University, and an M.A. in applied economics from the University of Michigan.