Negroponte, John

▪ 2006

      Career diplomat John Negroponte was named the first director of national intelligence (DNI) of the United States in 2005. The cabinet-level position was created at the recommendation of a congressional committee in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. The DNI was to oversee 15 agencies responsible for intelligence and military strategy and coordinate those efforts as a way to prevent similar terrorist attacks. Negroponte was certainly familiar with the world's political and military hot spots, having served in Southeast Asia in the 1960s, Central America in the 1980s, and Iraq during the Second Gulf War in 2004. Representing his country in such volatile environments may have prepared him for the intelligence job, but it also left his reputation tainted in the eyes of many who contended that widespread abuses had occurred on his watch.

      John Dmitri Negroponte was born on July 21, 1939, in London, the son of a Greek shipping magnate. He was raised in New York City and on Long Island and attended the exclusive Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, graduating in 1956. He then studied at Yale University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1960. He attended Harvard Law School briefly but left in 1960 to join the U.S. Foreign Service. He was assigned to posts in Ecuador, Greece, Hong Kong, and Vietnam. He became a deputy assistant secretary of state, first for oceans and fisheries (1977) and then for East Asian and Pacific affairs (1980).

      Negroponte was named U.S. ambassador to Honduras in 1981, at a time when the administration of Pres. Ronald Reagan was engaged in covert military operations against left-wing governments in Central America. Negroponte's critics—including Jack Binns, his predecessor as ambassador—accused him of having ignored human rights abuses and the activities of death squads during his four years in Honduras. They claimed that Negroponte had aided the Contras, who were fighting against the government in neighbouring Nicaragua; Negroponte claimed that he had complained privately about the abuses while publicly supporting the newly elected government.

      From 1985 to 1996, Negroponte held a variety of key positions, including deputy national security adviser under Reagan and ambassador to Mexico (1989–93) and the Philippines (1993–96). He worked in the private sector until 2001, when Pres. George W. Bush nominated him to serve as U.S. representative to the United Nations, where he helped build a case for war against Iraq, citing evidence of weapons of mass destruction that later proved to be flawed. In 2004 he accepted the job of ambassador to Iraq, where he was credited with reducing corruption within the U.S.-controlled administrative district of central Baghdad.

Anthony G. Craine

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▪ United States government official

in full  John Dmitri Negroponte 

born July 21, 1939, London, Eng.

 

 American diplomat, who served as ambassador to a number of countries, including Honduras (1981–85) and Iraq (2004–05), and was the U.S. representative to the United Nations (UN; 2001–04) before being named the first director of national intelligence (DNI; 2005–07).

      The son of a Greek shipping magnate, Negroponte was raised in New York City and Long Island and attended the exclusive Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, graduating in 1956. He then studied at Yale University, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1960. That same year, after a brief time at Harvard Law School, he joined the U.S. Foreign Service. Negroponte was assigned to posts in Ecuador, Greece, Hong Kong, and Vietnam, and he later served as a deputy assistant secretary of state, first for Oceans and Fisheries (1977) and then for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1980).

      Negroponte was named U.S. ambassador to Honduras in 1981, at a time when Pres. Ronald Reagan (Reagan, Ronald W.)'s administration was engaged in covert military operations against left-wing governments in Central America. Negroponte's critics—including Jack Binns, his predecessor as ambassador—accused him of having ignored human rights abuses and the activities of death squads during his four years in Honduras. They claimed that Negroponte had aided the Contras, who were fighting against the government of neighbouring Nicaragua; Negroponte held that he had complained privately about the abuses while publicly supporting the newly elected government.

      From 1985 to 1996 Negroponte held various key positions, including deputy national security adviser under Reagan and ambassador to Mexico (1989–93) and the Philippines (1993–96). He worked in the private sector until 2001, when Pres. George W. Bush (Bush, George W.) nominated him to serve as U.S. representative to the UN, where he helped build a case for war against Iraq, citing evidence of weapons of mass destruction; the evidence was later proved to be flawed (see Iraq War). In 2004 he accepted the job of ambassador to Iraq, where he was credited with reducing corruption within the U.S.-controlled administrative district of central Baghdad. The next year he was named DNI, a new cabinet-level position created at the recommendation of a congressional committee in the wake of the September 11 attacks (2001). The post was meant to centralize the leadership of the various U.S. intelligence agencies. Negroponte served as DNI for only a year, however, becoming deputy secretary of state in February 2007 under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Rice, Condoleezza).

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