Edward Marks

SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW:

AMBASSADOR EDWARD MARKS

Ambassador Marks was appointed to the Foreign Service in 1956 with early assignments mainly in Africa. Senior positions included Ambassador to the Republics of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, the Department of State’s Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Visiting Senior Fellow on terrorism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Deputy Chief of Mission in Sri Lanka, Deputy United States Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in New York, and Senior Fellow at the National Defense University. Retiring as a Senior Foreign Service Officer (Minister-Counselor) in 1995, he was recalled to active duty to serve as the Department of State’s advisor on terrorism to the United States Pacific Command from 2002-2005.

In retirement Ambassador Marks has engaged in consulting and writing, primarily on terrorism, interagency coordination, United Nations affairs, and complex international emergencies. He recently published his memoirs “A Professional Foreigner” and coauthored two books on “U.S. Government Counterterrorism Programs: Who Does What,”.

Ambassador Marks is a founding trustee of the CGSC Foundation and served for two years (2013-2014) as the Director of the Simons Center for Interagency Cooperation. He currently serves on the Programming Committee of DACOR and is a member of the American Diplomacy board of directors.

Ambassador Marks has served in a number of roles:

• Senior Advisor to the Project on National Security Reform (2008-9)
• Subject matter expert with Battle Command Training Program (BCTP)
• Consultant to United Nations organizations
• Distinguished Senior Fellow. George Mason University Program on Peacekeeping Policy
• Senior Mentor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia
• Advisory Board of “Terrorism: an Electronic Journal”
• Advisory Board, Colonel Arthur D. Simons Center for Study of Interagency Cooperation, Ft. Leavenworth
• Member, Board of Directors, American Diplomacy
• Founding Trustee, Command and General Staff College Foundation
• Governor, DACOR (Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired)
• Retiree Representative, Executive Board, American Foreign Service Association
• Member, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (ADST)

Born in Chicago, Illinois in April 1934, Ambassador Marks attended public schools in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from the Universities of Michigan (BA in Political Science, 1956) and Oklahoma (MA in Economics, 1976), the National War College (1981) and served in the United States Army (1956-58).

Edward Marks authored or co-authored the following articles in the Simons Center Archives:

• Implementing the QDDR
• Rethinking the Geographic Combatant Commands
• Expanding Chief of Mission Authority to Produce Unity of Effort

The Ambassador has also published A Professional Foreigner: Life in Diplomacy, April 1, 2023.