J. Brian Atwood authored an op-ed for The Hill, calling for the Biden administration to use the War Powers Resolution to break deadlock in Congress.
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J. Brian Atwood
Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs
Brown in Washington, National Press Club, 9th Floor
Areas of Expertise
Democracy & Elections, Inequality & Poverty, International Institutions, US Foreign Policy
Areas of Interest
US Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, International Development Cooperation, Congressional War Powers, Conflict Resolution and Post-Conflict Transitions, Europe and Africa
Biography
J. Brian Atwood is a Senior Fellow and a member of the Board of Governors of the Watson Institute at Brown University. He was Dean of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs from 2003 to 2010. Atwood served for six and one-half years as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) during the Clinton Administration. In 1992/93 he led the Clinton transition team at the State Department and served as Under Secretary of State for Management prior to his appointment to head of USAID. He was elected Chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD in 2010. During the Carter Administration Atwood served as Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations. He was President of the National Democratic Institute from 1985 to 1993, and served on the UN Secretary General’s Panel on Peace Operations in 2000. He joined the Foreign Service in 1966, and was Senator Tom Eagleton’s legislative advisor for foreign policy from 1972 to 1977. He was Dean of Professional Studies at the Foreign Service Institute in 1981–82. Atwood received the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award in 1999.
Research
International development cooperation; poverty and its relationship to conflict; war powers in the US, the politics of US foreign policy; the global context for development cooperation; inequity and its impact on the less developed countries.
Publications
Washington Post re President's authority to hold aid to Ukraine, Development Cooperation: Threatened but Durable (Georgetown Inernational Relations Journal)
Teaching
Diplomacy: An Art That Isn't Dead (IAPA 1801B)
Diplomacy and Development: Related But Different Missions (IAPA 1801V)
Recent News
J. Brian Atwood authored an article for The Hill that examines the Israel-Hamas conflict and suggests actions to create “lasting peace and a two-state solution.”
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Three International and Public Affairs concentrators spent the fall 2023 semester in the nation's capital serving as White House interns while participating in the Brown in Washington program where they took courses and learned more about what it takes to work in the public policy arena.
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In a recent article for The Hill, J. Brian Atwood highlights the risks of unregulated military-use technology.
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J. Brian Atwood writes for The Hill, "We have seen enough mass shootings made easier with weapons that shoot multiple rounds — in schools, shopping centers, churches and bars. The American people have made it clear in poll after poll that they want Congress to act."
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Senior Fellow J. Brian Atwood writes for The Hill, "The controversy over whether to provide Abrams tanks to Ukraine said as much about the failure of Congressional oversight as it did about NATO politics."
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