Frank G. Wisner
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Frank G. Wisner From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2011) Frank George Wisner II (born 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. He is also on the board of Hakluyt & Company, a British corporate investigation firm. 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. 2011 Egypt protests Wisner was involved in a diplomatic gaffe during the pro-democracy uprising in Egypt in early 2011. 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 [5] 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. [6] [7] References 1. ^ "Egypt protests - Monday 31 January". The Guardian. 31 Jan 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/jan/31/egypt-protests-live-updates. 2. ^ "Obama Urges Mubarak Not to Run Again". New York Times. 01 Feb 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/middleeast/02transition.html. 3. ^ "Guiding Principles for U.S. Post-Conflict Policy in Iraq". James A. Baker Institute For Public Policy at Rice University. http://bakerinstitute.org/programs/energy- forum/publications/docs/GuidingPrinciples_USPostConflictPolicy_Iraq.pdf/view? searchterm=wisner. 4. ^ "Press Release". Refugees International. 09 May 2008. http://www.refugeesinternational.org/press-room/press-release/release-refugees- international-welcomes-new-board-members. 5. ^ "West Backs Gradual Egyptian Transition". New York Times. 05 Feb 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/world/middleeast/06egypt.html?hp. 6. ^ "Obama turned to envoy". Washington Post. 01 Feb 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2011/02/01/AR2011020106216.html. 7. ^ "US envoy's business link to Egypt". The Independent. 07 Feb 2011. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/revealed-us-envoys-business-link-to- egypt-2206329.html. External links • Frank G. Wisner bio at the Wharton Global Business Forum • Sourcewatch page • Obama Egypt Envoy Frank Wisner Says Mubarak Should Stay - video report by Democracy Now! Diplomatic posts United States Ambassador to Preceded by Succeeded by Zambia Stephen Low Nicholas Platt 1979 – 1982 United States Ambassador to Preceded by Succeeded by Egypt Nicholas A. Veliotes Robert Pelletreau 1986 – 1991 United States Ambassador to the Preceded by Succeeded by Philippines Nicholas Platt Richard H. Solomon 1991 – 1992 Preceded by U.S. Ambassador to India Succeeded by Thomas R. Pickering 1994 – 1997 Richard F. Celeste Government offices Preceded by United States Department of State Succeeded by Under Secretary of State for Reginald Bartholomew International Security Affairs Lynn Etheridge Davis 1992 – 1993 United States Department of Defense Preceded by Succeeded by Under Secretary of Defense for Paul Wolfowitz Walter B. Slocombe Policy 1993 – 1994 v · d · e Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs of the United States of America Under Secretary of State for Tarr • Donaldson • Maw • Benson • Nimetz • Buckley • International Security Schneider • Derwinski • Bartholomew • Wisner Affairs 1972-1993 Under Secretary of State for Arms Davis • Holum • Bolton • Joseph • Rood (acting) • Control and International Tauscher Security Affairs 1993-Pres. v · d · e United States Ambassadors to India Henry F. Grady · Loy W. Henderson · Chester Bowles · George V. Allen · John Sherman Cooper · Ellsworth Bunker · John Kenneth Galbraith · Chester Bowles · Kenneth Keating · Daniel Patrick Moynihan · William B. Saxbe · Robert F. Goheen · Harry G. Barnes, Jr. · John Gunther Dean · John R. Hubbard · William Clark, Jr. · Thomas R. Pickering · Frank G. Wisner · Dick Celeste · Robert Blackwill · David Mulford · Timothy J. Roemer Persondata Name Wisner, Frank G. Alternative names Short description Aerican diplomat, politician Date of birth 1938 Place of birth Date of death Place of death This article about an American businessperson born in the 1930s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · d · e Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_G._Wisner" Categories: 1938 births | Living people | American businesspeople | Princeton University alumni | People from New York | United States ambassadors to the Philippines | United States ambassadors to India | United States ambassadors to Egypt | United States Department of Defense officials | American University of Beirut trustees | Under Secretaries of State (United States) | People of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution | American business biography, 1930s birth stubs This page was last modified on 12 February 2011 at 17:55. Ambassador Frank G. Wisner II, CIA’s Hatchet Man Takes Control of Egypt - By Matthias Chang (4/2/11) By Matthias Chang Thursday, 03 February 2011 23:02 The people of Egypt must now prepare for a violent Counter-revolution ordered by President Obama and to be implemented by CIA’s top hatchet man, under the guise of Ambassador Frank G. Wisner II, whose father was the mastermind behind the bloody overthrow of Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953. The so-called supporters of Mubarak are in fact security officers in plainclothes and have been unleashed to cause confusion, violence and to create fear and instability so as to justify a brutal military response under the pretext of restoring order. The call by El Baradei for a military intervention is most suspicious in the circumstances and the people should be wary. The people must not be fearful and be prepared to defend themselves and the revolution, so that the moribund and corrupt regime of Mubarak is got rid once and for all. Expose this insidious plot. THE EUROPEAN UNION TIMES EU Times online newspaper Top CIA Spy Takes Over Deadly Egyptian Protests Posted by EU Times on Feb 3rd, 2011 Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reports circulating in the Kremlin today state that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has agreed to allow the United States Central Intelligence Agency’s top spy to take over his countries military and police forces in order to stamp out the growing threat to America’s most vital Arab ally in the Middle East. According to these reports, US President Barack Obama phoned Mubarak on February 1st ordering the Egyptian dictator to allow this CIA takeover of Egyptian military and police forces or face “immediate and permanent removal”, a term this report says is a euphemism for “assassination”. Upon Mubarak’s agreeing to Obama’s harsh order, these reports continue, the American President put in charge of Egypt the United States most feared spy, Ambassador Frank G. Wisner II, who the SVR says has been the Egyptian dictators CIA “handler” and best friend for decades. To understand how feared Wisner II is among Russian Intelligence services one has to know that his father, Frank G. Wisner I (1909-1965), was head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operations in southeastern Europe at the end of World War II, and the head of the Directorate of Plans [now known as the National Clandestine Service (NCS)] of the Central Intelligence Agency during the 1950s.