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Consulting Editor
Contact Info:
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.
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
July 21, 2008
Interview
Gary Sick, a longtime expert on Iran, says both the Iranian and U.S. governments face pressure to compromise and allow talks on Tehran's nuclear program to move forward.
See more in United States, Iran, Proliferation
July 15, 2008
Interview
Spector, a nuclear nonproliferation expert, discusses the merits of the U.S.-India nuclear agreement and its prospects for passage during the Bush administration.
See more in United States, India, Proliferation, Missile Defense, Weapons of Mass Destruction
July 2, 2008
Interview
Stephen Sestanovich, CFR's top Russia expert, says that after two months as Russia's new president, Dmitri Medvedev "has not replaced Putin as president. He's only assumed the title."
See more in Russian Fed., Business & Foreign Policy, Economic Development, Society and Culture
July 1, 2008
Interview
Don Oberdorfer, an expert on the two Koreas, says the recent street protests ostensibly against the import of U.S. beef are much more political protests against the new conservative government in Seoul.
See more in United States, Northeast Asia, North Korea, South Korea, Trade, Public Health Threats, U.S. Strategy and Politics
June 26, 2008
Interview
CFR's Gary Samore says North Korea's declaration on its nuclear activities and lifting of sanctions by the United States marks "a useful initial step" but more work needs to be done to ensure disarmament.
See more in United States, North Korea, Proliferation
June 26, 2008
Interview
South Asia expert Teresita Schaffer says Washington and Islamabad have different priorities in the fight against militancy.
See more in United States, Pakistan, Terrorism
June 19, 2008
Interview
Hossein Bastani, an Iranian journalist, discusses the split within Iran between the so-called neoconservatives, who support Ahmadinejad, and the more traditional conservatives, who support the older generation of leaders.
See more in Iran, Society and Culture, Religion
June 18, 2008
Interview
Middle East expert Mona Yacoubian says diplomatic moves in the Middle East indicate that various parties are becoming "increasingly alarmed" about regional volatility.
See more in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, International Peace and Security
June 16, 2008
Interview
Charles A. Kupchan, CFR's top Europe expert, says President Bush's farewell trip to Europe produced statements of friendship and partnership hard to imagine a few short years ago.
See more in United States, International Organizations
June 13, 2008
Interview
Michael A. Levi, who directed CFR's Independent Task Force on global climate change, says the United States needs to demonstrate how reducing carbon emissions can be balanced with economic growth.
See more in Energy/Environment, Climate Change
June 10, 2008
Interview
diyaCFR military expert Stephen Biddle sees improvements in Iraqi security forces but worries about an erosion in stability if the U.S. military presence is sharply reduced.
See more in Iraq, Defense/Homeland Security, International Peace and Security, Peacekeeping, Peacemaking
June 4, 2008
Interview
Youssef Ibrahim, a risk consultant and the former Middle East correspondent for the New York Times, discusses the flood of money lining Persian Gulf coffers.
See more in Gulf States, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Economics, Society and Culture
May 29, 2008
Interview
Counterterrorism expert Daniel L. Byman says Hezbollah is "the most powerful single political movement in Lebanon" and remains a potent guerrilla force.
See more in Lebanon, Syria, Society and Culture, Terrorist Organizations
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.
In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report outlines the nature of the challenges in Pakistan's tribal areas, formulates strategies for addressing those challenges, and distills the strategies into realistic policy proposals worthy of consideration by the incoming administration.
This report analyzes the debate over U.S. use of assurances against torture, explaining the contexts in which they are used, how they can be conveyed, and what they can contain, and recommends a number of ways to respond to criticism so that the United States can continue using assurances.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
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Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
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The David Rockefeller Studies Program is CFR’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving CFR’s goal of contributing to the foreign policy debate. Fellows in the Studies Program do this by researching, writing, and commenting on the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.
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