AMBASSADOR JOSEPH C. WILSON, IV

Ambassador Wilson manages JCWilson International Ventures, Corp., a consulting firm specializing in Strategic Management and International Business Development. He is also an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC.

Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was a principal architect of President Clinton’s historic trip to Africa in March 1998 and a leading proponent of the Africa Trade Bill.

His other senior US government positions include: Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe (1995-1997) and U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. From 1988 to 1991, he was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. During “Desert Shield” he was acting Ambassador and was responsible for the freeing of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before “Desert Storm.”

Ambassador Wilson was a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 through 1998. His other assignments included Niger, Togo, South Africa, Burundi, Congo and Germany.

In 1985-1986, he served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow.
in the offices of Senator Al Gore and the House Majority Whip, Tom Foley.

Ambassador Wilson is a Californian and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972. He is a graduate of the Senior Seminar (1992), the most advanced International Affairs training offered by the U.S. Government. He is a frequent foreign policy commentator on American and international television and radio programs. He speaks fluent French.

Ambassador Wilson’s awards include: the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, the University of California, Santa Barbara Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the American Foreign Service Association William R. Rivkin Award. Additionally, he has been decorated as a Commander in the Order of the Equatorial Star by the Government of Gabon and as an Admiral in the El Paso Navy by the El Paso County Commissioners.

He is married to the former Valerie Plame and has two sons and two daughters.