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
OCT 17, 2012 • Article
MEK: When Terrorism Becomes Respectable
The Iranian group Mujahedin-e Khalq [MEK] has been on the U.S. global terrorist list since 1997. So just why has the U.S. State Department ...
OCT 12, 2012 • Podcast
Senator Richard Lugar on Nuclear Weapons Reduction
Senator Lugar tells the dramatic story of his bipartisan work on the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program (also known as Nunn–Lugar), which provides funding and ...
OCT 10, 2012 • Podcast
Frank Vogl on Corruption
Corruption is not a victimless crime, as many believe. Transparency International's Frank Vogl discusses the global, grass-roots fight against this age-old problem.
AUG 30, 2012 • Article
Syria and the Arab Spring: Unintended Consequences?
It is easy to seek to add Assad to the list of toppled despots, from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen to Libya. But it would ...
AUG 7, 2012 • Podcast
PepsiCo's Donald M. Kendall on Russia
Kendall recalls how he opened up the former Soviet Union for PepsiCo, bringing in other U.S. companies as well. He goes on to discuss ...
AUG 7, 2012 • Transcript
PepsiCo's Donald M. Kendall on Russia
Kendall recalls how he opened up the former Soviet Union for PepsiCo, bringing in other U.S. companies as well. He goes on to discuss ...
JUL 19, 2012 • Article
U.S.-Iran Relations: Exiting the Cul de Sac?
Leading a coalition in a relentless campaign of sanctions against Iran, the U.S. has the upper hand. Therefore it should make the first move ...
JUN 4, 2012 • Article
Russia Bulletin (2012): Russia Bulletin, Issue 7
Putin is the man that many love to hate, and just three weeks into his new term, critics have heaped scorn on his ambitious economic ...
MAY 14, 2012 • Article
Farewell Dick Lugar: A Gentleman Departs
Despite certain Republicans' claims to the contrary, Dick Lugar was a genuine conservative, albeit a responsible one who saw the advantage of engaging the other ...
MAY 11, 2012 • Article
Russia Bulletin (2012): Russia Bulletin, Issue 6
As expected, Vladimir Putin's re-election to the presidency has resulted in a torrent of criticism from all sides. Yet David Speedie argues that for many ...