Carlos Pascual is Vice President & Director of the Foreign Policy Studies Program (FPS) at the Brookings Institution. Mr. Pascual joined Brookings in 2006 after a 23 year career in the United States Department of State, National Security Council (NSC), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Mr. Pascual directs the FPS program and its centers based on four strategic priorities: relations with world powers, war and peace, countering transnational threats, and reshaping global and U.S. institutions. FPS is the largest research program at Brookings with centers on China, Northeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

In 2007, Mr. Pascual launched a major new initiative at Brookings called “Managing Global Insecurity: American Leadership, International Institutions, and the Search for Peace in the 21st Century.” This project will generate substantive materials and international support networks in order to give the next American President and key international partners a platform to launch a new United Nations reform effort in 2009.

Under Mr. Pascual’s leadership, Brookings launched the Iraq Policy Project to assess current U.S. policy on Iraq and alternative options. He has written several opinion pieces and articles on this topic, including: “The Critical Battles: Political Reconciliation and Reconstruction in Iraq” with Ken Pollack in The Washington Quarterly; “A Brokered Peace,” in The Washington Post; “Regional Diplomacy Potential” with Michael O’Hanlon in The Washington Times; and “Rights and Wrongs of Fixing Iraq” with Ken Pollack in The Financial Times.

Before joining Brookings, Mr. Pascual served as Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the U.S. Department of State, where he led and organized U.S. government planning to help stabilize and reconstruct societies in transition from conflict or civil strife. Prior to that, he was Coordinator for U.S. Assistance to Europe and Eurasia (2003), where he oversaw regional and country assistance strategies to promote market-oriented and democratic states. From October 2000 until August 2003, Mr. Pascual served as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. From July 1998 to January 2000, Mr. Pascual served as Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, and from 1995 to 1998 as Director for the same region. From 1983 to 1995, Mr. Pascual worked for USAID in Sudan, South Africa, and Mozambique and as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia.

Mr. Pascual received his M.P.P. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1982 and his B.A. from Stanford University in 1980. He serves on the board of directors for the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and the Internews Network. He is also on the Advisory Group for the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. 

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