David Speedie is the founder and former director of the Council's program on U.S. Global Engagement. He is a founding member of The American Committee for East-West Accord.
In 2007–2008, Speedie was also a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Speedie worked at Carnegie Corporation of New York from 1992 to 2007. He joined the Corporation as a program officer in the cooperative security program and was appointed program chair in March 1993, a position he held for almost 12 years. In 2004, he was appointed to serve as special advisor to the president and director of the Corporation's project on Islam.
He was recruited from the W. Alton Jones Foundation where he was codirector of the secure society program and directed, over a five year period, programs in the arts, urban affairs, and the environment. In the 1980s, Speedie was a consultant to nonprofits in management, marketing, and fund-raising as well as director of cultural affairs for Mayor Bill Green in Philadelphia. He also served as the bicentennial liaison officer at the British Embassy in Washington.
For three years, Speedie was a professor of English and drama at the University of St Andrews in his native Scotland. Speedie holds an Honours M.A. [First Class] in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Studies and an M.Litt. from the University of St Andrews. He was a visiting research fellow as a Kennedy scholar at Harvard University from 1971–1973. He has been a book editor and writer for the National Endowment for the Arts' Community Vision, a freelance journalist on politics for The Scotsman, and most recently, a reviewer for the International Journal of Middle East Studies. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Featured Work
MAR 24, 2014 • Podcast
Crisis in Ukraine: Ukraine and Russia Beyond Crimean Secession
Professor Nicolai Petro, currently in Odessa, Ukraine, discusses recent developments, including the secessionist vote in the Crimean peninsula and the subsequent annexation by Russia, outcomes ...
MAR 6, 2014 • Article
Rein in Ukraine's Neo-Fascists
For a new government to succeed in Ukraine, it's important that the nation's neo-fascist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Russian parties are marginalized, writes David Speedie.
MAR 5, 2014 • Podcast
Crisis in Ukraine: Crimean Stand-Off
In the latest Security Bulletin, Russia expert Professor Nicolai Petro speaks from Odessa in southern Ukraine on the ongoing crisis, with a particular focus on ...
FEB 24, 2014 • Podcast
Crisis in Ukraine: The View from Beyond Kiev
This is the third in a series of Security Bulletins on the crisis in Ukraine, and here Dr. Nicolai N. Petro gives us a view ...
FEB 13, 2014 • Podcast
Differing Perspectives on Iran and the Middle East Peace Process: Is there a Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations?
Do the public disagreements between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government over Iran's nuclear program and the current peace talks with the Palestinians signal ...
FEB 13, 2014 • Podcast
Rules of Engagement: The Legal, Ethical and Moral Challenges of the Long War
Can the drone campaign be legally and morally justified? What are the limits to the president's authority when it comes to targeted killing? Don't miss ...
FEB 12, 2014 • Podcast
Crisis in Ukraine: The Role and Responsibility of the West
This is the second in a series of Carnegie Council Security Bulletins on the crisis in Ukraine, in conversation with Dr. Anton Shekhovtsov, a Ukrainian-born ...
FEB 3, 2014 • Podcast
Crisis in Ukraine: A Voice from Kiev, January 31, 2014
What is the likely outcome of the violent clashes in Ukraine? Does the U.S. and the West have a moral imperative to intervene and, ...
JAN 17, 2014 • Article
The Rise of Extremism in a Disunited Europe
A sinister scenario is playing out in Europe: the rise of right-wing populism, and in some cases, extreme far-right forces. Throughout 2013, Carnegie Council's U.S. ...
OCT 7, 2013 • Podcast
Important Choices: Foreign Policy and Defense Spending
How much does the U.S. actually spend on defense and where does that money go? Lawrence Korb, an expert on the federal budget, the ...