Former U.S. career diplomats offer perspectives on Obama's foreign policy

Abstract

March 16, 2009

Writer: Cindy H. Rice, 706/542-5172, cindy@uga.edu
Contact: Andre Barbic, 706/542-5141, abarbic@uga.edu

Athens, Ga. - Recently retired U.S. Foreign Service officers Earle St. A. Scarlett and Barbara A.H. Scarlett, who have a combined 50-plus years of global diplomatic experience, will share their personal views on President Obama's foreign policy plans at an event sponsored by the University of Georgia School of Law's Dean Rusk Center in cooperation with the Department of International Affairs and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The March 19 joint lecture featuring the Scarletts will begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Larry Walker Room of Dean Rusk Hall located on North Campus. A question and answer session on careers in foreign affairs will follow.

The Scarletts, a tandem couple, had joint overseas diplomatic assignments in Cameroon, Brazil (twice, during the transition from military to civilian rule and subsequently), the Philippines (during the overthrow of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos), the former Yugoslavia (during its dissolution) and Ireland (implementing the Good Friday Agreement). Earle also served in Bosnia on the international diplomatic team implementing the Dayton Peace Accords.

Earle's domestic assignments have included serving on the China Desk and Task Force during the Tiananmen Square incident and on the Somalia Desk. He was a U.S. State Department Dean Rusk Fellow at Georgetown University, director of political training at the Foreign Service Institute and a Foreign Service examiner. He also served as a State Department senior adviser to the Commandant of the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Ala.

Barbara is a graduate in strategic studies of the National Defense University and was a Foreign Service examiner. A specialist in public diplomacy, Barbara also worked on diplomatic strategy for the Kyoto Protocol and on television and teleconference programming on diplomatic issues in Latin America. She was policy adviser on the Middle East and desk officer for East Africa and Anglophone West Africa. In addition, in Washington, D.C., she had responsibilities for counterterrorism, infectious diseases and climate change.

Earle and Barbara have both been honored for their public service. Barbara received a Superior Honor Award for her work on the Kyoto Protocol and the Order of Chivalry from the Brazilian government for her work on U.S.-Brazil labor relations. Earle is a recipient of the Secretary's Career Achievement Award and the Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Award for Excellence in Political-Military Strategy.

The Scarletts have proficiency in French, Portuguese, Spanish and Serbo-Croatian. They teach Balkans Affairs and international relations periodically at a university in Italy.

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