Ambassador (ret) Joseph Manso served as U.S. diplomat for 38 years.  He was U.S. Ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations; and Director of the NATO office, and the Office UN Political Affairs in the State Department.  He also served as Deputy Ambassador to NATO and was also U.S. Charge d ’Affairs there.  He ran rule of law programs in Bolivia and Iraq, and served in Mexico City, Madrid, and at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, as well as the US Mission to the UN in New York as part of the Security Council delegation.   He was seconded from the State Department to serve as Deputy Director of the Private Office of the NATO Secretary General.

Currently he is a senior fellow at the Joint Forces Staff College of the National Defense University and is on the faculty of the Arizona State University, teaching in the Master’s degree program on International Affairs and Leadership. He speaks widely on diplomacy, national security, and international relations.Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he practiced law for six years.

He is a graduate of Fordham College and Fordham Law School. A native New Yorker, he is married and has two daughters. His foreign languages are Spanish and French.