Frank George Wisner II (born 2 July 1938) is an American businessman and former diplomat. He is the son of Frank Wisner (1909–1965). On 31 January 2011, he was sent to Egypt by President Barack Obama to negotiate a resolution to the popular protests against the regime that have swept the country.[1] A White House spokesman said that Wisner had vast experience in the region as well as close relationships with many Egyptians in and out of government. The New York Times reports that he is a personal friend of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.[2] Speaking on the BBC on February 5, 2011, he exceeded statements issued by the White House to date and insisted that President Mubarak should be allowed to remain in office despite widespread calls for him to step down.
Wisner was born in New York on 2 July 1938. He attended Woodberry Forest School, and then attended Princeton University, graduating in 1961. He joined the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer in December of that year.
In 1976, at the beginning of the Carter administration, he served under Cyrus Vance as Deputy Executive Secretary of the Department of State. Among his overseas assignments, Wisner served as the United States Ambassador to Zambia (1979–82); Egypt (1986–91), the Philippines (1991–92), and India, 1994-97.
After retiring from government service in 1997, Wisner joined the board at a subsidiary of Enron, the former energy company.
In late 2002, Wisner co-chaired an independent working group which developed a model for the US's post-conflict role in Iraq, should an invasion occur. Their published recommendations included: establishment of law and order through the retraining of the Iraqi army, focusing on the distribution of humanitarian assistance and reestablishment of vital services, and the importance of avoiding the appointment of exiled Iraqi opposition leaders to dominant positions in the new government.[3]
Wisner is an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the National Security Network, and on the board of Refugees International.[4] Currently he's a member of the board for EOG Resources Inc.
Wisner was involved in a diplomatic gaffe during the pro-democracy uprising in Egypt in early 2011.[5] The Obama administration asked Wisner to carry views to Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, including advice that Mubarak should resign to defuse the crisis. Wisner was not successful in convincing the dictator of the wisdom of the administration's suggestions. Just 4 days later, after a day in which Mubarak allies took violent reprisal against democracy activists, Wisner spoke to a security conference in Europe and called it "crucial" that Mubarak stay on in the interest of "stability", in direct contradiction of the American policy he had been asked to convey. The State Department immediately disavowed his comments and disparaged his previous role, saying he had not served as envoy, but merely as an available conduit for certain administration views [6] Adding fuel to the furor over Wisner's comments was the fact that after retirement from the diplomatic corps, he had been a highly placed official of a firm that has lobbied on behalf of the dictator, as well as serving on the board of the largest Egyptian bank.[7][8]
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Stephen Low |
United States Ambassador to Zambia 1979 – 1982 |
Succeeded by Nicholas Platt |
| Preceded by Nicholas A. Veliotes |
United States Ambassador to Egypt 1986 – 1991 |
Succeeded by Robert Pelletreau |
| Preceded by Nicholas Platt |
United States Ambassador to the Philippines 1991 – 1992 |
Succeeded by Richard H. Solomon |
| Preceded by Thomas R. Pickering |
U.S. Ambassador to India 1994 – 1997 |
Succeeded by Richard F. Celeste |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Reginald Bartholomew |
United States Department of State Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs 1992 – 1993 |
Succeeded by Lynn Etheridge Davis |
| Preceded by Paul Wolfowitz |
United States Department of Defense Under Secretary of Defense for Policy 1993 – 1994 |
Succeeded by Walter B. Slocombe |
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