| Michael McFaul | |
|---|---|
| Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 29, 2009 |
|
| President | Barack Obama |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1963 |
| Nationality | American |
| Residence | United States |
| Alma mater | Stanford University (B.A., M.A.) Oxford University (Ph.D.) |
Michael Anthony McFaul (born 1963 in Glasgow, Montana) is a Stanford University professor who has been confirmed to be United States Ambassador to Russia. Prior to his nomination to the ambassadorial position, McFaul worked for the U.S. National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of Russian and Eurasian Affairs.[1]
Born in Montana, McFaul earned a B.A. in International Relations and Slavic Languages and an M.A. in Slavic and East European Studies from Stanford University in 1986. As a Rhodes Scholar, he earned a Ph.D. in International Relations from Oxford University in 1991.[1]
Three years after McFaul earned his Ph.D., in 1994, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a member of the State Duma (the Russian parliament), denounced him.[2] A few days later, a gunman fired a shot into McFaul's Stanford University office window.[2] Two years later, Alexander Korzhakov, a confidante of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, invited McFaul to the Kremlin during the 1996 Russian presidential election, because of McFaul's research on electoral politics.[2]
A professor of political science at Stanford University, McFaul is the former director of the university's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.[1] A Hoover Institution Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow with friendly ties to neoconservatives, McFaul is a Democrat who was the architect of U.S. President Barack Obama's policy on Russia.[3]
In 2011, Obama nominated McFaul to be United States Ambassador to Russia. On December 17, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed McFaul by unanimous consent.[4] Once he presents his credentials, McFaul will be only the second U.S. ambassador to Russia in 30 years who was not a career diplomat.[3]