Ambassador Robert Ford

Ambassador Robert Ford is a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC and a fellow Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs where he teaches about U.S. foreign policy.  

Ford was the U.S. Ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014, the Political Affairs Chief and Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad 2008 – 2010 and the U.S. Ambassador in Algeria 2006 – 2008. He also served in Bahrain, Cameroon, Egypt, Turkey and in Washington. Before joining the diplomatic service he was a teacher with the Peace Corps in Morocco 1980 – 1982. 

Ford speaks English, Arabic and French and has appeared on US, European and Arabic TV and radio. He has published articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs among others and has given guest lectures at Harvard, Princeton, UCLA, Tufts and other schools in the U.S. and Canada.