Derek Mitchell
Encyclopedia
Derek James Mitchell is an American diplomat with extensive experience in Asia policy. He was recently appointed by President Barack Obama
as the first Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar
) with Rank of Ambassador, and was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on October 2, 2011.
in 1986. He attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
, Medford, Maryland, from 1989-1981, where he studied United States and East Asian Diplomatic History and Public International Law, and was awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for the 1990-91 school year. He received a Master of Arts degree in Law and Diplomacy in 1991, earning a certificate for proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. From December 1988 to June 1989, he had worked as Copy Editor at The China Post, Taipei, Taiwan, at the time the largest English-language daily newspaper on Taiwan, where he first learned Mandarin Chinese and further studied the language at Nanjing University, China in the summer of 1990.
He served as an aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1986 to 1988, working on foreign affairs as Assistant to Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Gregory Craig, later White House Counsel under President Barack Obama
. An excellent pianist, Mitchell also played at social events in and around Washington, including public and private functions for Senator Kennedy.
(NDI), Washington, D.C. There he developed NDI’s long-term programmatic approach to Asia, and conceived, organized, managed, and conducted training in democratic development programs in new and emerging democracies, including Armenia, Burma, Cambodia, Georgia, Pakistan, and Thailand. He also produced a 10-minute testimonial video on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
for NDI’s 1996 W. Averell Harriman
Democracy Award luncheon, which honored the Burmese democracy leader. He conceived and directed the project, and personally conducted interviews with the subject.
From 2001 to 2009 he was a Senior Fellow, Director for Asia, and Director of the Southeast Asia Initiative, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS), Washington, D.C., as part of the International Security Program. He conceived, developed, and implemented a wide variety of programs related to U.S.-Asia and Asian intra-regional affairs, and managed a highly active team of scholars. He established CSIS’s first dedicated Southeast Asian studies program, and in 2008-2009 led a major study on the future of U.S. relations with regional allies (Thailand, Philippines) and other emerging partners (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam). It was his recommendations in a Foreign Affairs article co-authored with Michael Green (2007) that led to a new policy towards Burma and ultimately to the position he now holds. During this time Mitchell was a Visiting Scholar (April to June 2007) at Peking University, School of International Studies, acting as a researcher and guest lecturer at China’s premier academic institution.
Mitchell was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, Office of the United States Secretary of Defense
by President Obama, serving from 2009 to 2011. His duties included performing as second-in-command to the Assistant Secretary of Defense, responsible for Asia defense policy and more than 100 personnel encompassing three areas: East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Afghanistan/Pakistan/Central Asia. He also served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense in his absence, and when the position was vacant for several months in 2011. Mitchell helped to shape and guide the direction of U.S. defense policy in Asia through regular contact with Secretary of Defense, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, and senior-level dialogues with inter-agency colleagues. Mitchell was the primary author of the Department of Defense's East Asia Strategy Report (1998), still the latest such report (as of 2011). He also led the conduct of public outreach and drafted speeches outlining the Department of Defense’s strategic approach to East, Southeast and South Asia. He traveled extensively in Southeast Asia, including China, Japan, Thailand, Viet Nam and Cambodia.
On April 14, 2011 President Obama appointed Mitchell to be the first U.S. Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma, with Rank of Ambassador , , . He is charged with negotiating directly with the leaders of a regime that has been in power for over 40 years and was known for its repressive policies towards its own people, causing the United States to institute sanctions on the country. Since his appointment Mitchell has renewed his friendship with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
, met with leaders in the government, and toured the country, at a time when a possible “thaw” in the relationship of the two countries has been noted, with the recent release of a number of political prisoners in the fall of 2011.
, working in California in 1988 (Dukakis/Bentsen), where he was Personnel Director for Field Operations, managing more than 500 grass-roots organizers for first field operation ever organized in California for a presidential campaign. In 1992 he was Logistics and Operations manager of the United Democratic Campaign (Clinton-Gore, Boxer, Feinstein) in California, for the field program that spanned 20 offices from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.
Co-editor (with C. Fred Bergsten, Bates Gill, and Nicholas Lardy), The China Balance Sheet in 2007 and Beyond, Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Petersen Institute for International Economics, 2007. Author of three chapters: “China and the Developing World,” “China and Russia,” and “China and India” (with Chietigj Bajpaee).
Co-editor (with Joshua Eisenman and Eric Heginbotham), China and the Developing World: Beijing’s Strategy for the 21st Century, ME Sharpe, 2007. Author (with Carola McGiffert) of opening chapter, “Expanding the ‘Strategic Periphery’: A History of China’s Interaction with the Developing World.”
Co-author (with C. Fred Bergsten, Bates Gill, and Nicholas Lardy), China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities, Petersen Institute for International Economics Press, 2008. Author of three chapters: “Why Does the United States Care About Taiwan,” “China’s Military Modernization,” and “China and the World.”
. July/August 2001.
“Asia’s Forgotten Crisis: A New Approach to Burma” (with Michael Green). Foreign Affairs
. November/December 2007.
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
as the first Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
) with Rank of Ambassador, and was sworn in by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on October 2, 2011.
Early life, education and training
Mitchell was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Charlotte (née Mendelsohn) and Malcolm S. Mitchell, M.D., an academic medical oncologist and tumor immunologist, while his father was serving in the U.S. Public Health Service. His parents later settled in Orange, Connecticut, a suburb of New Haven, where he attended elementary, middle and high school. Mitchell graduated with a B.A. in Foreign Affairs, with a concentration in Soviet Studies, from the University of VirginiaUniversity of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in 1986. He attended the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
, Medford, Maryland, from 1989-1981, where he studied United States and East Asian Diplomatic History and Public International Law, and was awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for the 1990-91 school year. He received a Master of Arts degree in Law and Diplomacy in 1991, earning a certificate for proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. From December 1988 to June 1989, he had worked as Copy Editor at The China Post, Taipei, Taiwan, at the time the largest English-language daily newspaper on Taiwan, where he first learned Mandarin Chinese and further studied the language at Nanjing University, China in the summer of 1990.
He served as an aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1986 to 1988, working on foreign affairs as Assistant to Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Gregory Craig, later White House Counsel under President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. An excellent pianist, Mitchell also played at social events in and around Washington, including public and private functions for Senator Kennedy.
Career
Mitchell worked as Senior Program Officer for Asia (1993-1996) and the Former Soviet Union (1996-1997) at the National Democratic Institute for International AffairsNational Democratic Institute for International Affairs
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs is an organization created by the United States government by way of the National Endowment for Democracy to channel grants for furthering democracy in developing nations. It was founded in 1983, shortly after the U.S. Congress created...
(NDI), Washington, D.C. There he developed NDI’s long-term programmatic approach to Asia, and conceived, organized, managed, and conducted training in democratic development programs in new and emerging democracies, including Armenia, Burma, Cambodia, Georgia, Pakistan, and Thailand. He also produced a 10-minute testimonial video on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
for NDI’s 1996 W. Averell Harriman
W. Averell Harriman
William Averell Harriman was an American Democratic Party politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was the son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later as the 48th Governor of New York...
Democracy Award luncheon, which honored the Burmese democracy leader. He conceived and directed the project, and personally conducted interviews with the subject.
From 2001 to 2009 he was a Senior Fellow, Director for Asia, and Director of the Southeast Asia Initiative, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Center for Strategic and International Studies is a bipartisan Washington, D.C., foreign policy think tank. The center was founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and Ambassador David Manker Abshire, originally as part of Georgetown University...
(CSIS), Washington, D.C., as part of the International Security Program. He conceived, developed, and implemented a wide variety of programs related to U.S.-Asia and Asian intra-regional affairs, and managed a highly active team of scholars. He established CSIS’s first dedicated Southeast Asian studies program, and in 2008-2009 led a major study on the future of U.S. relations with regional allies (Thailand, Philippines) and other emerging partners (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam). It was his recommendations in a Foreign Affairs article co-authored with Michael Green (2007) that led to a new policy towards Burma and ultimately to the position he now holds. During this time Mitchell was a Visiting Scholar (April to June 2007) at Peking University, School of International Studies, acting as a researcher and guest lecturer at China’s premier academic institution.
Mitchell was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, Office of the United States Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
by President Obama, serving from 2009 to 2011. His duties included performing as second-in-command to the Assistant Secretary of Defense, responsible for Asia defense policy and more than 100 personnel encompassing three areas: East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Afghanistan/Pakistan/Central Asia. He also served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense in his absence, and when the position was vacant for several months in 2011. Mitchell helped to shape and guide the direction of U.S. defense policy in Asia through regular contact with Secretary of Defense, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, and senior-level dialogues with inter-agency colleagues. Mitchell was the primary author of the Department of Defense's East Asia Strategy Report (1998), still the latest such report (as of 2011). He also led the conduct of public outreach and drafted speeches outlining the Department of Defense’s strategic approach to East, Southeast and South Asia. He traveled extensively in Southeast Asia, including China, Japan, Thailand, Viet Nam and Cambodia.
On April 14, 2011 President Obama appointed Mitchell to be the first U.S. Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma, with Rank of Ambassador , , . He is charged with negotiating directly with the leaders of a regime that has been in power for over 40 years and was known for its repressive policies towards its own people, causing the United States to institute sanctions on the country. Since his appointment Mitchell has renewed his friendship with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
, met with leaders in the government, and toured the country, at a time when a possible “thaw” in the relationship of the two countries has been noted, with the recent release of a number of political prisoners in the fall of 2011.
Political activities
In the past Mitchell was active on behalf of the Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, working in California in 1988 (Dukakis/Bentsen), where he was Personnel Director for Field Operations, managing more than 500 grass-roots organizers for first field operation ever organized in California for a presidential campaign. In 1992 he was Logistics and Operations manager of the United Democratic Campaign (Clinton-Gore, Boxer, Feinstein) in California, for the field program that spanned 20 offices from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.
Personal life
Mitchell has been married to Lee Hun-min (a.k.a. Min Lee) a TV journalist from Taiwan since April 30, 2006.Books/chapters
Co-author (with C. Fred Bergsten, Bates Gill, and Nicholas Lardy), China: The Balance Sheet – What The World Needs To Know Now About the Emerging Superpower, Public Affairs, 2006. Author of chapter entitled “China’s Foreign and Security Policy: Partner or Rival?”Co-editor (with C. Fred Bergsten, Bates Gill, and Nicholas Lardy), The China Balance Sheet in 2007 and Beyond, Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Petersen Institute for International Economics, 2007. Author of three chapters: “China and the Developing World,” “China and Russia,” and “China and India” (with Chietigj Bajpaee).
Co-editor (with Joshua Eisenman and Eric Heginbotham), China and the Developing World: Beijing’s Strategy for the 21st Century, ME Sharpe, 2007. Author (with Carola McGiffert) of opening chapter, “Expanding the ‘Strategic Periphery’: A History of China’s Interaction with the Developing World.”
Co-author (with C. Fred Bergsten, Bates Gill, and Nicholas Lardy), China’s Rise: Challenges and Opportunities, Petersen Institute for International Economics Press, 2008. Author of three chapters: “Why Does the United States Care About Taiwan,” “China’s Military Modernization,” and “China and the World.”
Journals
“Crisis in the Taiwan Strait?” (with Kurt M. Campbell). Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
. July/August 2001.
“Asia’s Forgotten Crisis: A New Approach to Burma” (with Michael Green). Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
. November/December 2007.