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Consulting Editor
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E-mail: bgwertzman@cfr.org
Bernard Gwertzman has spent his entire career in journalism, starting as a reporter for the Washington Star in Washington, DC, in 1960. There he covered the Cold War as a specialist on Communist affairs. In late 1968, he was hired by the New York Times and sent to Moscow as its bureau chief from 1969-71, where he covered the tensions along the Soviet-Chinese border and the first steps toward detente.
In 1971, Gwertzman returned to Washington, where he worked for the next sixteen years covering U.S. foreign policy for the Times. He traveled throughout the Middle East with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, where he charted the first Arab-Israeli accords, leading up to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel brokered by President Carter in 1979. In that period, he also wrote extensively on the first arms control accords between the United States and Russia.
With the advent of President Reagan to the White House in 1981, he covered the chill in Soviet-American relations, followed by the warming of the Gorbachev-Reagan ties. In 1987, Gwertzman was invited to New York to become the deputy foreign editor of the Times, and in 1989, he became foreign editor. During his tenure as foreign editor, he directed the Times' coverage of the collapse of the Soviet empire, the Persian Gulf war, the U.S. invasion of Panama, the first Israeli agreement with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and the outbreak of the Bosnian war. In the six years Mr. Gwertzman was at the helm, the New York Times won four Pulitzer Prizes for international coverage.
When the Times began its electronic division in the summer of 1995, Mr. Gwertzman shifted to new media. He was editor-in-chief of the New York Times on the web from 1996 until he retired from the Times in 2002. He has been consulting editor for cfr.org since October 2002. Gwertzman, who has an AB and MA from Harvard, is the co-author with Haynes Johnson of Fulbright: the Dissenter, and with Michael Kaufman on three anthologies on the fall of Communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union. He lives in Riverdale, NY, with his wife Marie-Jeanne. He has two married sons, James and Michael.
October 14, 2008
Interview
Gary Samore, who was active in nuclear diplomacy with North Korea in the Clinton administration, says the latest agreement between the United States and North Korea is only a "very modest step forward" because it allows the next administration to proceed further in seeking a nuclear-disarmed North Korea.
See more in North Korea, Arms Control and Disarmament, State Sponsors of Terrorism
October 10, 2008
Interview
Ashley J. Tellis, an expert on South Asia, foresees an improvement across the board in U.S.-India relations as a result of the U.S.-India nuclear deal, but warns that only careful diplomacy can insulate it from future complications.
See more in United States, India, Energy, Energy Security, Proliferation
October 7, 2008
Interview
Paulo Sotero, a veteran Brazilian analyst, discusses the hopes and concerns of his country, and many Latin American states, about the economic impact of the next U.S. administration.
See more in United States, Brazil, Business & Foreign Policy, U.S. Election 2008
October 3, 2008
Interview
Steven Pifer, an expert on Russian affairs and former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, says U.S.-Russian relations have "deteriorated significantly" since their high point just after 9/11. The next U.S. administration should return to negotiations on limiting strategic arms and other areas of mutual interest, he says.
See more in United States, Georgia, Russian Fed., Ukraine, NATO, Grand Strategy
October 2, 2008
Interview
Marc Lynch, an expert on Iraqi politics, says that despite security gains in Iraq, the political situation remains unsettled, suggesting progress might be ephemeral.
See more in Iraq, Defense/Homeland Security, Wars and Warfare, Nation Building
September 29, 2008
Interview
James M. Lindsay, an expert on U.S. foreign policy, and a former director of studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the first presidential debate between Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama.
See more in United States, Presidency, U.S. Election 2008
September 24, 2008
Interview
George Perkovich, an expert on Iran's nuclear program, says the United States and its negotiating partners should set a deadline for Iran to agree to negotiations on suspending its nuclear enrichment program. If Iran still refuses to talk, he says, the negotiators should pull all previous incentive offers from the table and seek tougher sanctions.
See more in Iran, Proliferation, Weapons of Mass Destruction
September 19, 2008
Interview
Martin S. Indyk, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, discusses the new leader of the country's ruling Kadima party, Tzipi Livni.
See more in Israel, Palestinian Authority, Elections, Human Rights
September 17, 2008
Interview
Michael Krepon, a well-known expert on South Asia and nuclear nonproliferation, says that the U.S.-India nuclear agreement is likely to weaken efforts at strengthening nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. He says that Congress will likely approve the agreement on the grounds it will improve relations with India and increase American jobs.
See more in United States, India, Proliferation
September 12, 2008
Interview
Bruce Riedel, a former high-ranking CIA and Pentagon official, says the United States faces a very frustrating situation in Pakistan, and that the recent U.S. cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan is risky given the anti-Americanism in Pakistan.
See more in United States, Pakistan, Terrorism
September 11, 2008
Interview
Howard B. Schaffer, a former top State Department official on South Asia, says Washington should seek to prevent tensions in Kashmir from complicating U.S. security interests in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
See more in India, Kashmir, Pakistan, Ethnicity and National Identity, Religion
September 8, 2008
Interview
Anthony H. Cordesman, an expert on military affairs, says that "substantial progress" has been achieved in Iraq but that political questions leave the future open to question.
See more in United States, Afghanistan, Iraq, Democracy and Human Rights, Terrorism, U.S. Strategy and Politics
September 3, 2008
Interview
Robert E. Hunter, a former U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, says Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili miscalculated by sending troops into South Ossetia in mid-August, but in the end, "Russia is the loser here."
See more in Georgia, Russian Fed., Nation Building, International Organizations
August 26, 2008
Interview
F. Stephen Larrabee, an expert on NATO and Eastern Europe, says Russia's invasion of Georgia was an effort to limit "Western influence into the former Soviet space."
See more in Georgia, Russian Fed., Wars and Warfare, International Peace and Security
August 13, 2008
Interview
Irfan Husain, a columnist for Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, says the next U.S. president faces the challenge of trying to coax reforms from a splintered Pakistani leadership.
See more in United States, Pakistan, Democracy and Human Rights, Diplomacy, U.S. Election 2008
August 11, 2008
Interview
Stephen Sestanovich, CFR’s top Russia expert,says the fighting between Georgia and Russia is more a “war” than a “conflict,” and could have far-reaching consequences.
See more in Georgia, Russian Fed., Wars and Warfare
August 4, 2008
Interview
Gerald M. Steinberg, an expert on Israeli politics, says Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could remain in office well beyond his planned resignation next month.
See more in Israel, Democracy and Human Rights, Elections
July 30, 2008
Interview
Turkey's highest court decided not to ban the country's ruling party. CFR's Steven A. Cook says the decision saves the Turkish government but does little to heal mosque-state tensions.
See more in Turkey, Nationalism, Society and Culture
July 28, 2008
Interview
Stewart M. Patrick, a former member of the State Department's Policy Planning staff, discusses the utility of international courts in combating rampant rights abuses.
See more in Global Governance, International Law
July 23, 2008
Interview
Daniel Senor, a former foreign policy adviser for the Bush administration, says Sen. Barack Obama's trip to Iraq and Afghanistan produced a mix of risks and benefits.
See more in Middle East, U.S. Election 2008
In The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the Bush administration’s struggle to balance security and openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
Complete list of CFR Books.
In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.
In this report, Bruce W. MacDonald illuminates the strategic landscape of military space competition between the United States and China and highlights the dangers and opportunities the United States confronts in space.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Gary Samore
Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9627
gsamore@cfr.org
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
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jhill@cfr.org
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