Christopher Hill

Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (March 2009-August 2010)

(Department of State)

Why He Matters

Hill has been at the forefront of American diplomacy for more than three decades. At the start of the Obama administration, he helped tackle one of the biggest U.S. foreign policy problems as U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

His nomination to the post caused quite a stir in Congress, where some Republican senators threatened to block Hill's nomination, arguing that he didn't have enough experience handling Middle East issues. The senators also questioned Hill's negotiation efforts with North Korea, contending he didn't focus enough on stemming human-rights abuses there. But Hill's supporters argued that he had an exceptional career and that he was primed for the challenges in Iraq, and he was confirmed in April 2009.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (2005 to 2008); United States Ambassador to Korea (2004 to 2005); United States Ambassador to Poland (2000 to 2004)
Birthday: Aug. 10, 1952
Hometown: Paris, France

Alma Mater: Bowdoin College, B.A. (economics), 1974, Navy War College, M.A., 1994
Spouse: Patty Hill
Web site

Path to Power

Hill was born in Paris to an American diplomat. He grew up in Little Compton, R.I., and earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Bowdoin College in 1974. He also played lacrosse, and says the sport taught him a lot about diplomacy.

After graduation, Hill left for Cameroon, where he served as a Peace Corps volunteer. In Cameroon, he said he learned his first lesson in diplomacy when he discovered a credit union he was auditing had taken 60 percent of its investors' money. He gathered the villagers and gave a speech denouncing the malfeasance. His audience was grateful - then immediately re-elected everyone Hill had spoken out against. "I realized I didn't know beans about what was going on," Hill told The Washington Post. "When something's happened, it's happened for a reason and you do your best to understand that reason. But don't necessarily think you can change it."

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He joined the Foreign Service in 1977, focusing on Eastern Europe, where he served tours in Belgrade, Warsaw, Seoul and Tirana.

Hill earned a master's degree from the Naval War College in 1994. Soon after, he was dispatched to the Republic of Macedonia. His admirers in the Clinton administration encouraged President Clinton to tap Hill to help hammer out a peace agreement in Kosovo. He was then dispatched to Poland, where the Polish president liked him so much that he requested Hill stay on after George W. Bush was elected President.

Ambassador to South Korea

In 2004, Hill won an appointment as U.S. ambassador to South Korea, a position he lobbied for for several years. In Seoul, Hill broke with diplomatic precedent by visiting universities and other hotbeds of anti-Americanism to give speeches and have debates. He also regularly responded to questions in an Internet chat room. "He was here the shortest term among the six ambassadors that I've seen here in my 18 years, but had the most impact," Tami Overby, a senior official with the American Chamber of Commerce in South Korea told The Washington Post. "He was a rule-breaker, always willing to challenge."

Just eight months into his assignment, Hill was named head of the U.S. delegation of the Six-Party Talks on North Korea. He was named assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in April 2005.

Controversial Appointment to Iraq

In March 2009, the Obama administration appointed Hill as the top U.S. diplomat in Iraq, quickly stirring controversy among some Republican senators, who argued that Hill lacks experience in the Middle East and that he failed to emphasize human rights in his dealings with North Korea. Republican Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) led the charge against Hill, accusing of "evasive and unprofessional activities" including "sidelining key officials" and "breaking commitments" to Congress during his North Korea negotiations.

Gen. David Petraeus, top Iraq commander Gen. Raymond Odierno, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates all supported Hill's appointment and were frustrated with the confirmation delays. Hill also had the support of the ranking Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

Brownback filibustered the vote for Hill, but his nomination eventually passed, 73 to 23.

The Issues

Hill helped negotiate several peace treaties and deals during his three decades as a Foreign Service officer. He believes that multi-party talks are often the most effective way to bring about diplomatic change. "Negotiation or engaging with a country doesn't mean that you necessarily agree with that country," he said in a 2008 Bowdoin Magazine interview. "You are engaging with them because engagement is a tool of getting something done."

Hill is wary of using military pressure and has said it is important to find financial levers that "really get the attention of the leadership" instead of simply imposing economic sanctions detrimental to the country's poor. Hill has drawn experience from his work in Kosovo, North Korea, and Macedonia. He has said he understands the complexity of ethno-sectarian politics. "You can't wave your hand [and demand], 'You do this, you do that,'" he said. Instead, he emphasizes addressing local concerns.

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Hill has a reputation for exceeding negotiating instructions and breaking rules to accomplish his mission.

Iraq

At his March 2009 confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hill pledged an "energetic diplomacy" to strengthen the political process in Iraq. He said the biggest problem facing the ambassador is strengthening the relationship between "the power of the center and the rights of the region" in order to stop internal conflict.

During his confirmation hearing, he told senators that his priorities would include helping the Iraqi government conduct successful parliamentary elections; creating a system of peaceful political transition; improving the country's human- rights record and treatment of religious minorities; and strengthening the rule of law. "We seek an Iraq that is sovereign, stable, and self-reliant; committed to just, representative, and accountable governance; and integrated into the global economy," Hill told the committee in March 2009.

Hill also pledged to work with Iraq's neighbors to shore up the country's borders. In particular, he said he wants to work with Iran, a country that he said "would be well-served" by peace in Iraq.

He praised the use of Provincial Reconstruction Teams - groups of American soldiers and civilians who focus on training Iraqis, and called for increasing Iraq's police force.

North Korea

Hill was the chief diplomat handling North Korean disarmament talks from 2005 to 2008. He was given wide latitude by President George W. Bush in his mission to persuade North Korea to stop developing nuclear weapons. Though Hill was eventually able to convince the country to dismantle a nuclear plant and declare all nuclear weapons for inspectors, the deal ultimately fell apart because of disagreements over what parts of the treaty meant.

Though Hill was very popular in Asia, he was criticized by some conservatives and Republicans for being too willing to make concessions to North Koreans. Hill "deliberately minimized focus on the bleak human rights record of that country, ignored its nuclear proliferation, and had the practical effect of affirming its nuclear weapons capability," The Washington Times wrote in an opinion piece in March 2009. "Hill also has a troubling hotdog tendency to play by his own rules, to the detriment of U.S. diplomacy."

But others have praised Hill's work. "It is our perspective that he made a lot of lemonade out of some pretty bad lemons, and he was able to get the North Koreans on record as agreeing to certain obligations," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters."We now have to follow through on those obligations."

North Korea Controversy

In early 2009, Hill's work in North Korea became a flashpoint for criticism when he was nominated as ambassador to Iraq. Brownback also accused Hill of misleading him in a July 2008 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, when Hill said that he would invite a administration official responsible for monitoring human rights in North Korea to future talks. Hill says that he told Brownback he would ask the official to participate in negotiations that progressed beyond "phase two," which focused specifically on nuclear disarmament. Hill said that his team never reached phase three.

But in Hill's July 2008 testimony, though he acknowledged that there are several phases, he did not clearly state that he would wait until phase three to involve the negotiator. "I would be happy to invite him [the human rights negotiator] to all future negotiating sessions with North Korea," he said at the time.

During his confirmation hearing in March 2009, Hill acknowledged that in retrospect "when I realized we weren't going to get to Phase Three, I should have gone back to Sen. Brownback."

China

Hill believes China is a necessary ally for the U.S. "If we do find a solution to the problem of Darfur, it will be because we worked with China. If we find a solution to the problem of Iran, it will be because we worked well with China. Similarly, if we close this deal with North Korea, it will be because of our efforts with China," he told the New York Times in 2009.

He told a Bowdoin alumni magazine that the Chinese are "very transactional" and pragmatic and that they can be good allies to America. However, Hill has observed that the U.S. has several problems with China's policies toward Taiwan, Tibet and human rights.

The Network

Hill is especially close with Richard C. Holbrooke, a special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the Obama administration. Holbrooke described Hill as "brilliant, fearless and argumentative" in his book To End a War. In fact, some sources report that Holbrooke lobbied to remove retired Gen. Anthony Zinni from the Iraq ambassador gig so that Hill could be appointed.

Hill serves with his deputy Robert Ford, who has been in Baghdad since 2004.

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