Frank G. Wisner
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Frank George Wisner II (born July 2, 1938) is an American businessman and former
diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
who had served as acting United States Secretary of State for a few hours following the resignation of the previous acting United States Secretary of State Arnold Kanter at noon on January 20, 1993 until the confirmation by the United States Senate and swearing in of Warren Christopher as United States Secretary of State later that day. He is the son of CIA official Frank Wisner (1909–1965). On January 31, 2011, he was sent to Egypt by President Barack Obama to negotiate a resolution to the popular protests against the regime that had swept the country. A White House spokesman said that Wisner had vast experience in the region as well as close relationships with many Egyptians in and out of government. The New York Times reported that he was a personal friend of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. He works as an international-affairs advisor at the firm of
Squire Patton Boggs Squire Patton Boggs is an international law firm with 42 offices in 20 countries. It was formed in 2014 by the merger of multinational law firm Squire Sanders with Washington, D.C. based Patton Boggs. It is one of the 30 largest law firms in the ...
in Washington, DC.


Life and career

Wisner was born in New York on July 2, 1938. He joined the
State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
as a
Foreign Service Officer A Foreign Service Officer (FSO) is a commissioned member of the United States Foreign Service. Foreign Service Officers formulate and implement the foreign policy of the United States. FSOs spend most of their careers overseas as members of U ...
in December 1961. He was assigned as a vice consul at the American Consulate General in Tangier, Morocco. He served as third secretary at the U.S. Embassy in
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, Algeria. In 1964 he became a rural development officer at the U.S. Embassy in
Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
,
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
, for the Agency for International Development. He served in South Vietnam until 1969, when he returned to the State Department as officer in charge of Tunisian affairs. From 1971 to 1973, he was first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, and following that, from 1973 to 1974, he was first secretary at the U.S. Embassy in
Dacca Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
, Bangladesh. From 1974 to 1975, he was Director of the Office of Plans and Management in the Bureau of Public Affairs and in late 1975 became Deputy Director of the President's Indo-China Task Force in the Department. In 1976, at the beginning of the Carter administration, he served under
Cyrus Vance Cyrus Roberts Vance Sr. (March 27, 1917January 12, 2002) was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. Prior to serving in that position, he was the United States Deputy Secretary of ...
as Deputy
Executive Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
of the Department of State. Among his overseas assignments, Wisner served as the United States Ambassador to Zambia (1979–82); Egypt (1986–91), the Philippines (1991–92), and India, 1994–97. During his tenure in Lusaka, he played the role of point man for the Constructive Engagement policy of assistant secretary of state for African affairs Chester Crocker. Wisner worked well with Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda and helped to rebuild bilateral relations between Zambia and the USA after a 1980 spy scandal at the U.S. embassy in Lusaka. Crocker's efforts contributed to the organization and successful discussions at the February 1984 Lusaka Conference regarding conflicts in Angola and Namibia. After retiring from government service in 1997, Wisner joined the board at a subsidiary of Enron, the former energy company and served on the board of American International Group (AIG). In late 2002, Wisner co-chaired an independent working group that developed a model for the US's post-conflict role in Iraq, should an invasion occur. Their published recommendations included: the establishment of law and order through the retraining of the Iraqi army, focusing on the distribution of humanitarian assistance and reestablishment of vital services, and the importance of avoiding the appointment of exiled Iraqi opposition leaders to dominant positions in the new government. Wisner is an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy. In 2012 he succeeded
Paul A. Volcker Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended the ...
as chairman of the board of trustees of International House, a cultural-exchange residence and program center in New York City. He also serves on the advisory board of the
National Security Network The National Security Network (NSN) was a non-profit foreign policy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, that focused on international relations, global affairs and national security. Characterizing itself as " progressive ...
, and on the board of
Refugees International Refugees International (RI) is an independent humanitarian organization that advocates for better support for displaced people (including refugees and internally displaced people) and stateless people. It does not accept any United Nations or gove ...
. He went on to become a member of the board for EOG Resources. In June 2013, Wisner joined the advisory board of Ergo, a global intelligence and advisory firm. Wisner is chair of the board of directors of
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington The Arab Gulf States Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank dedicated to covering the "social, economic, and political diversity of the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region." Ambassador Frank G. Wisner Frank George Wisner II (bo ...
. Frank Wisner was married to Christine de Ganay, the stepmother of
Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
, the President of France from 2007 until 2012. He is a member of the Metropolitan Club of Washington DC.


2011 Egypt protests

In early 2011, the Obama administration asked Wisner to carry views to Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, including advice that Mubarak should resign to defuse the crisis. Wisner was unsuccessful in convincing Mubarak to do so. Four days later, after a day in which Mubarak allies took violent reprisal against democracy activists, Wisner spoke to a security conference in Europe and called it "crucial" that Mubarak stay on in the interest of "stability." The State Department immediately disavowed his comments and said Wisner had not been serving as an envoy but as a conduit for certain administration views.


References


External links

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Obama Egypt Envoy Frank Wisner Says Mubarak Should Stay
– video report by '' Democracy Now!'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wisner, Frank G. 1938 births Living people 20th-century American businesspeople American people of German descent Princeton University alumni Businesspeople from New York City Ambassadors of the United States to the Philippines Ambassadors of the United States to India Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt Ambassadors of the United States to Zambia United States Career Ambassadors United States Under Secretaries of Defense for Policy American University of Beirut trustees United States Under Secretaries of State People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 United States Foreign Service personnel Acting United States Secretaries of State 20th-century American diplomats People associated with Squire Patton Boggs