Expert Profile

Mr John Erath is an Executive-in-Residence within the Global Fellowship Initiative of the GCSP. He returned to GCSP after a two-year assignment on the U.S. National Security Council, where he was responsible for European issues. In this capacity, he focused on cooperation with NATO and the EU, as well as heading White House efforts to improve stability in the Balkans. He has thirty years of diplomatic experience and began his career in the 1990s working in what was then Yugoslavia. He was later seconded to the OSCE in Kosovo and the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo. Subsequently, he covered the Balkans at the U.S. Mission to NATO and for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Mr. Erath also has extensive experience in arms control and non-proliferation, having worked on the delegation for adaptation of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty and led the U.S. Delegation to the Wassenaar Arrangement General Working Group. He has also held diplomatic positions in India and Brazil. Most recently, he headed the political-military affairs office at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara. Mr. Erath is a graduate of Georgetown University and has a master’s degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College in Washington. He is the author of several articles on military history and three plays.