doi:10.7916/dpqv-4a17Oral history interview with Daniel R. Russel, 2021Russel, Daniel Roral historiesmixed materialPresidents--United StatesUnited States--Foreign relations--AsiaThailand History Coup d'état, 2014Russel, Daniel RObama, BarackNational Security Council (U.S.)East Asia SummitTrans-Pacific Partnership Agreement ( 2016 February 4)ASEANDaniel 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