Atlantic Council

Biography

Damon Wilson

Damon Wilson is Vice President and Director of the International Security Program at the Atlantic Council, focusing on NATO transformation, European defense, emerging global security challenges and transatlantic defense and intelligence cooperation.

Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, he served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council from December 2007 to January 2009.  Mr. Wilson played a leading role in developing and coordinating U.S. government efforts to advance a Europe whole, free and at peace and to work with Europe to promote security, prosperity and democracy around the world.  He managed interagency policy on NATO, the European Union, Georgia, Ukraine, the Balkans, Eurasian energy security and Turkey, and planned numerous Presidential visits to Europe, including U. S.-European Union and NATO Summits.

Previously, Mr. Wilson served at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq as the Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff, where he helped manage the largest U.S. Embassy, implementing a reorganization plan which strengthened coordination, accountability and effectiveness, and played a key role in overseeing the Embassy’s effort to design and implement a civilian surge throughout Iraq.  Prior to this posting, he worked at the National Security Council as the Director for Central, Eastern and Northern European Affairs from January 2004 to November 2006.  During this time, Mr. Wilson strengthened ties with the German Chancellery, coordinated interagency policy in support of reform in Ukraine, including during the Orange Revolution, directed efforts to deepen engagement with America’s allies in Central and Eastern Europe, including beginning the expansion of more secure visa-free travel, and promoted close consultations with coalition partners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From July 2001 to January 2004, Mr. Wilson served as Deputy Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General, assisting Lord Robertson in his drive to transform the Alliance by enlarging NATO membership, conducting operations beyond Europe particularly in Afghanistan, and adapting Allied capabilities to face modern threats.  Mr. Wilson also supported the Secretary General's role in the successful effort to avert civil war in Macedonia.  Prior to serving in Brussels, Mr. Wilson worked in the Department of State’s Office of European Security and Political Affairs where he was responsible for cooperation with NATO Allies on missile defense, nuclear policy and preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.  Mr. Wilson also worked on the State Department’s “China desk” and at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as a Presidential Management Fellow.  Mr. Wilson began his service at the State Department in 1998 by helping coordinate policy to adapt NATO to modern security challenges and planning for the Alliance’s 50th Anniversary Summit in Washington during the Kosovo conflict.

Mr. Wilson completed his master’s degree (MPA) at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs, where he also taught an undergraduate policy workshop on Implementing NATO Expansion with Dr. Richard Ullman.  As a graduate student in 1997, Mr. Wilson worked in the African Affairs Directorate of the National Security Council concentrating on Central Africa.  From 1995-1996, he served as the first Hart Leadership Fellow, working in Rwanda as a Project Officer for Save the Children’s Children and War Program.  As a Benjamin N. Duke Leadership Scholar at Duke University, Mr. Wilson obtained his BA summa cum laude in Political Science.  He also studied at the University of Grenoble, France, conducted independent research on democracy in Estonia and worked for the Unaccompanied Children in Exile refugee program in Croatia and Turkey.

Mr. Wilson, from Charleston, South Carolina, speaks French and has been decorated by the Presidents of Estonia, Hungary, Latvia and Poland for his efforts to advance transatlantic relations.  Mr. Wilson speaks and writes on current European foreign policy and security issues. 

He can be contacted at dwilson@acus.org. For appointment requests, please contact Jason Harmala at jharmala@acus.org.