missile defense cooperation

Biographies of U.S. Negotiators

Mr. John C. Rood

John Rood serves Assistant Secretary of State for Interna­tional Security and Nonproliferation.  Mr. Rood assumed this position in October 2006.  In this position, he is responsible for the development and implementation of policies to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, exercise effective multilateral export con­trols, and other arms control matters.
Mr. Rood previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterproliferation Strategy at the National Security Council from February 2005-October 2006.  In this post, he was responsible for staffing and providing advice to the President and National Security Advisor and coordinating Administration efforts to counter, prevent, and roll-back the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
From September 2003 to February 2005, Mr. Rood served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Forces Policy.  In this post, Mr. Rood’s responsibilities included the development and oversight of policy and programs related to U.S. nuclear and conventional strategic forces, ballistic missile defenses, and the use of space systems for military purposes.
From May 2001 to September 2003, Mr. Rood served as the Director for Proliferation Strategy, Counterproliferation, and Homeland Defense at the National Security Council.  His duties involved the formulation, coordination, and implementation of policy on missile defense, North Korea, and other related arms control and nonproliferation matters.
Prior to his first stint at the National Security Council, Mr. Rood served as Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona.  In that position, he worked on a broad range of defense and foreign policy issues, with an emphasis on missile defense, arms control, nonproliferation, export controls, and nuclear weapons issues.  Mr. Rood worked for Senator Kyl for four years.  Before joining Senator Kyl’s staff, he held a variety of positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, including as an analyst following foreign missile programs.

 

Ambassador Jackson McDonald

Ambassador McDonald is the Senior Advisor for Security Negotiations and Agreements in the Bureau of Political Military Affairs in the Department of State. His primary responsibilities are to negotiate status of forces and base access agreements for the deployment of United States forces abroad, as well to negotiate burden-sharing agreements with allies and partners.  He has held this position since August 2007. Prior to his current assignment, he served as Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Guinea from 2004 to 2007, a second ambassadorial tour which followed his position as Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia from 2001 to 2004.
Ambassador McDonald began his career in the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980 as Third Secretary and Vice Consul at the American Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  From 1982 to 1984, he served as Country Officer for Bangladesh at the U.S. Department of State. In 1984, he volunteered for duty at the American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, where he served as Second Secretary for Political Affairs for two years.
In 1986-1987, he completed studies at France’s Ecole Nationale d'Administration in preparation for his assignment as First Secretary for Political Affairs at the American Embassy in Paris from 1987 and 1989. After a year of Russian-language training, Ambassador McDonald served as First Secretary for Political Affairs at the American Embassy in Moscow, the Soviet Union, from 1990 to 1991. In early 1992, he volunteered to open the American Embassy in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he served first as Chargé d'Affaires then as Deputy Chief of Mission until 1994.
From 1994 to 1997, Mr. McDonald served as Consul General in Marseille, France, with dual accreditation to the Principality of Monaco. After graduating from the U.S. Department of State's Senior Seminar in 1998, he was assigned as Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire .
In October 2001, he was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia, a post he held until May 2004 when he was appointed to his ambassadorial post in Guinea.  He served in Guinea until June 2007, when he was reassigned to lead the Political-Military Bureau’s Office of Security Negotiations and Agreements in Washington D.C. Ambassador McDonald was educated at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. (Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service 1978), the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris (certificat  d'études politiques 1976), and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration in Paris (cycle étranger 1987).
Ambassador McDonald speaks French and Russian. He has received the U.S. Department of State's Superior Honor Award six times.  He is Officer (honorary) in the National Order of the Republic of The Gambia. Ambassador McDonald was born in Florida. He is married and has three children.