Laura Kennedy

Ambassador Laura Kennedy 202-463-8270 ext 110

Ambassador Laura Kennedy retired from the foreign service in 2013 after serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament for three years where, among other tasks, she worked on a protocol to the Central Asian Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.

Prior to this role, she was posted in Moscow and Turkey and later developed U.S. policies toward the newly established republics as Central Eurasia office director and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. She served as Ambassador to Turkmenistan 2001-3 where she championed civil society and support for allied forces in neighboring Afghanistan. While detailed to the National War College as deputy commandant, Kennedy taught a course on Central Asia and led a seminar there in 2008.

She was recalled to service in 2014 to serve as charge d’affaires in Turkmenistan and then moved to Vienna to head the U.S. Mission to International Organizations, where she supported the negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal as the U.S. Governor to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Kennedy re-retired in 2015, was elected to the American Academy of Diplomacy and serves on the boards of the World Affairs Council-D.C., the Arms Control Association and the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Kennedy is married to a fellow retired U.S. diplomat and is the mother of two. She graduated from Vassar College and did graduate work at American and Stanford Universities.

Recent Publications and Citations