Oral history interview with Daniel R. Russel, 2021
Abstract
Daniel Russel discusses his contribution to the foreign policy of the Obama presidency, throughout which he served in a variety of roles including special assistant to the president and senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council (NSC) from 2011 to 2013, and assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2013 to 2017. Russel focuses on the administration 's effort to restore and expand productive diplomatic relations with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and he describes the development, implementation, and politics of the administration's Asia rebalance strategy, in which resources and attention were redirected from the Middle East. He provides details about major events, summits, and initiatives with which he was closely involved, including Japanese Prime Minister Tarō Asō's state visit in February 2009, U.S. participation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' East Asia Summits, and the 2013 Sunnylands summit between Obama and Xi Jinping. Russel also outlines the trajectory of bi-lateral diplomatic relations with notable countries in the region, including China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar, and describes notable encounters and negotiations with diplomatic counterparts from these countries. Also discussed are the organization of responsibility for Asia policy in the NSC system, the importance of personal relationships to foreign policy, the challenge of balancing national strategic interests with human rights claims, the reaction to the 2014 coup d'état in Thailand, the geopolitical logic of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and Russel's experiences briefing Obama
Presidents--United States; United States--Foreign relations--Asia; Thailand History Coup d'état, 2014; Russel, Daniel R; Obama, Barack; National Security Council (U.S.); East Asia Summit; Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement ( 2016 February 4); ASEAN
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
70 pages
Note (Biographical)
Daniel R. Russel is an American diplomat who served in the Obama administration as special assistant to the president and senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff from 2011 to 2013. From 2013 to 2017, he was assistant s ecretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. Prior to his service in the Obama administration, Russel received many international appointments during a lengthy career in the U.S. Foreign Service. At the time of the interview, Russel is the vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute
Note
Interviewed by Evan D. McCormick on October 17 and November 7, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Daniel R. Russel, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023