Ambassador (Ret.) Dennis Jett

Ambassador (Ret.) Dennis Jett is a professor in the School of International Affairs at Pennsylvania State University. A former career diplomat, he retired in 2000 after serving 28 years in the State Department in a wide range of positions including as Ambassador to Peru and Mozambique, on the National Security Council, as Deputy Chief of Mission in Liberia and Malawi and in Argentina and Israel. Prior to going to Penn State in 2008, he was Dean of the International Center at the University of Florida.

He has a Ph.D. in international relations and has written four books – “American Ambassadors”, “Why Peacekeeping Fails”, “Why American Foreign Policy Fails”, and “The Iran Nuclear Deal – Bombs, Billionaires and Bureaucrats”. He has also written hundreds of opinion pieces for major newspapers and other publications. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was an intelligence officer in the Naval Reserve.

The last three embassies to which he was assigned all received the State Department’s Group Superior Honor Award–in Lima for the embassy’s performance during the hostage crisis at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence, in Maputo for helping to consolidate peace and democracy in Mozambique and in Monrovia for accomplishments and courage during the Liberian civil war.