Robert Sidney Gelbard (born March 6, 1944) is an American diplomat and former United States Ambassador to

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

(1988–1991) and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

(1999–2001). He is a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, and is a 1964 graduate of

Colby College Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the city where it resides. The donations of Christian philanthr ...

and a 1979 graduate of the

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, where he received a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

. In the

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

administration, he was an envoy to the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

.Eric Moskowitz and Jeffrey S. Lantis, 'Conflict in the Balkans', in ''Fateful Decisions: Inside the National Security Council'', ed. Karl F. Inderfurth and Loch K. Johnson, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, p.256 In the Spring of 1998, he met with Slobodan Milosevic and warned him about

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

's possible use of military force against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. By May 1998, he suggested to the White House that they bomb Serbia, but the idea was originally rejected by NSA

Sandy Berger Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger (October 28, 1945 – December 2, 2015) was an attorney who served as the 18th US National Security Advisor for US President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001 after he had served as the Deputy National Security Adviso ...

. In February of that year, Gelbard described the

Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA; , UÇK) was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia during the ...

, Milosevic's foe in the

Kosovo war The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

as "without any questions, a terrorist group" and added that "we condemn very strongly terrorist activities in Kosovo." Gelbard currently sits on the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

's Board of Directors.

Lobbying activities

Gelbard is the founder and chairman of Washington Global Partners LLC, a lobbying and consulting outfit based in Washington, DC. In October 2011, the

Economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

reported that Gelbard lobbied to discredit the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala and its current director,

Francisco Dall'Anese Francisco Dall'Anese Ruiz (born 1960) was the Attorney-General of Costa Rica. Biography Dall'Anese attended the University of Costa Rica, where he studied law. He later taught criminal law at the University, and is co-author of five books an ...

. Dall'Anese suggested that the lobbying campaign was funded by private sector opponents of the Commission's investigation of Guatemala's wealthy former interior minister, Carlos Vielmann, on charges of orchestrating extrajudicial killings. In February 2012, Gelbard joined the public policy and regulation practice at SNR Denton. In response to the accusations concerning the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, Gelbard wrote in ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'': "Based on two decades of experience in democratic institution-building, law enforcement and counter-narcotics, I have criticised the overall efforts of Francisco Dall'Anese, who heads CICIG, as being not aggressive enough compared with those of Carlos Castresana, his predecessor, and in light of the dire situation facing Guatemala."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gelbard, Robert S. 1944 births Living people American lobbyists Ambassadors of the United States to Bolivia Ambassadors of the United States to Indonesia Colby College alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni People from New York City United States Foreign Service personnel