KEITH MINES
Bio
In thirty two years of diplomatic and military service I have worked on counter-insurgency in Central America, Middle East peace in Israel and the West Bank, post-conflict stabilization in Haiti, Iraq, and Afghanistan, global financial stability and the environment with Brazil, NATO expansion in Hungary, counter-narcotics as the first Merida Initiative Director in Mexico City, and famine relief in Darfur and Somalia. I have a proven track record as a unifying, creative leader who can solve complex problems. Internationally I seek the opportunity to continue to serve in challenging assignments that require strong teamwork and new thinking. Domestically, I seek to actively apply what I have learned about social cohesion and political consolidation to help mend the disquieting divisions in the United States. Author of Why Nation Building Matters (due out in August 2020), engaging speaker, creative thinker.
FOREIGN POLICY
Only the United Nations can Prevent Venezuela's Collapse
Coauthored Article for The Globe and Mail
The crisis in Venezuela has moved from an internal tragedy to a threat to regional peace and security, with increasing political breakdown, growing COVID-19 infection, and disarray in its internal…
Venezuela - Could the Coronavirus Threat Be an Opportunity?
Coauthored Article for Small Wars Journal
Helping Venezuela resolve its political crisis will be vital to containing the potentially catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic there. A truce in the country’s power struggle is urgent, and last week’s U.S…
Will we have a civil war? A SF officer turned diplomat estimates chances at 60 percent
Interview for Foreign Policy Magazine
What a great but disturbing question (the fact that you can even ask it). Weird question for me as for most of my career I have been traveling the world observing other countries in various states of…
DOMESTIC POLICY
Did Trump Cover-Up a Russian Conspiracy with the Taliban to Kill US Troops?
Quoted in Article for the Byline Times
American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for targeting American troops. The New York Times…
Mr. President, You Have Partners at State to Help Navigate the World’s Shoals
Article for American Foreign Service Association
For the past two years, we have engaged in a raucous national debate on the state of the world and America’s place in it, all against a dramatic backdrop that includes the rise of radical Islamism…
Is America Headed for a New Kind of Civil War?
Quoted in Article for the New Yorker
A day after the brawling and racist brutality and deaths in Virginia, Governor Terry McAuliffe asked, “How did we get to this place?” The more relevant question after Charlottesville—and other deadly…
SPIRITUAL
Is it time for a dose of humility?
Oped written for The Salt Lake Tribune
Humility is in shorter supply than surgical masks these days. The American Christian faith, once a bastion of humility, has gone all muscular. The servant leader concept, popular in the American…