Suzanne DiMaggio is long-time analyst of

U.S. Foreign Policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and a leading practitioner of

Track II diplomacy Track II diplomacy or "backchannel diplomacy" is the practice of "non-governmental, informal and unofficial contacts and activities between private citizens or groups of individuals, sometimes called 'non-state actors. It contrasts with track I dip ...

. Her work is especially focused on U.S. relations with Iran and North Korea.

Early life

DiMaggio's mother was Japanese and her father Italian. DiMaggio has a B.A. in international business from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

and an M.A. in international relations from

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

(CUNY).

Career

From 1993-98, she was a program officer at the

United Nations University The (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare thro ...

. From 1998-2007, DiMaggio was the vice president of Policy Programs at the United Nations Association of the United States. In 2002, she began facilitating a high-level dialogue with European states, Iran, and the United States. From 2007-14, she was the vice president of Global Policy Programs at the

Asia Society The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco) and around the world (Hong Kong, Man ...

. From 2014-2018, DiMaggio was a senior fellow at

New America (organization) New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a think tank in the United States founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, educa ...

(2014-2018). DiMaggio is a Senior Fellow at the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in ...

. She directs the U.S.-

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Initiative and a U.S.-DPRK dialogue. She is also an Associate Senior Fellow in the SIPRI Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme. DiMaggio also directs the IranProject. In 2017, when the

Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...

had limited contact with

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, one report described DiMaggio as "a de facto ambassador for the United States" to North Korea. She favored a diplomatic resolution rather than force-based and militarized pathways. She described her philosophy: “Negotiating with the enemy is extremely difficult, but it's not impossible.” DiMaggio is a co-founder and the former chair of the

Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft is a U.S. think tank founded in 2019 and located in Washington, D.C., named after former President of the United States, U.S. president John Quincy Adams. It has been described as Realism (internatio ...

. A key aim, in her words, was "to push back on the mindset that leads to and facilitates endless war."

Personal life

DiMaggio resides in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's Greenwich Village with her husband,

Ben Allison Ben Allison (born November 17, 1966) is an American double bassist, composer, producer, bandleader, educator. In addition to his work as a performer, he co-founded the non-profit Jazz Composers Collective and served as its Artistic Director for ...

, and daughter.

Bibliography

* "Selecting the Next Secretary-General," ''Foreign Service Journal'', September 2006, pages 40-46. * "Obama's Iranian challenge," ''The Guardian'', November 13, 2008, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/13/iran-usforeignpolicy. * "Dealing with North Korea: Lessons from the Iran Nuclear Negotiations," ''Arms Control Today'', Vol. 47, No. 6, (Jul/Aug 2017). * Suzanne DiMaggio and Joel S. Wit, "How Trump Should Talk to North Korea," ''New York Times'', November 7, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/opinion/trump-north-korea-talk.html. * Suzanne DiMaggio and

Gary Sick Gary G. Sick (born April 4, 1935) is an American academic and analyst of Middle East affairs, with special expertise on Iran, who served on the U.S. National Security Council under Presidents Ford, Carter, and for a couple weeks under Reagan as w ...

, "If Trump shreds the Iran deal, it'll be a huge geopolitical mistake," ''New York Daily News'', May 2, 2018, https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/shredding-iran-deal-huge-geopolitical-mistake-article-1.3965451. * Suzanne DiMaggio and

Thomas R. Pickering Thomas Reeve "Tom" Pickering (born November 5, 1931) is a retired United States ambassador. Among his many diplomatic appointments, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1989 to 1992. Early life and education Born in Orange, ...

, "Correcting course on Iran: Trump has left us painfully isolated; it's time to reorient our foreign policy," ''New York Daily News'', February 5, 2019, https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-correcting-course-on-iran-20190204-story.html.

References

External links

* *
Interview
"Talks Between U.S. And North Korean Leaders Would Be Historic," ''National Public Radio'', March 9, 2018. *
PODCAST
Suzanne DiMaggio’s “Unofficial” Diplomacy With North Korea and Iran Have Led to Major Breakthroughs," April 16, 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:DiMaggio, Suzanne American people of Japanese descent American people of Italian descent New York University Stern School of Business alumni

City College of New York alumni A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people