Negroponte joined the
United States Foreign Service in 1960. He served at eight different Foreign Service posts in Asia (including the
U.S. Embassy, Saigon), Europe and Latin America, and he also held important positions at the
State Department and the White House. As a young Foreign Service officer—one of the few men in Washington who dared to openly disagree with Henry Kissinger's secretive handling of the Vietnam peace talks—Negroponte attempted to convince his superior that any peace agreement negotiated without the consent of South Vietnam's leader
Nguyen Van Thieu would fail.
Seymour Hersh claims in his book
The Price of Power that Kissinger never forgave Negroponte, and, upon becoming Secretary of State, exiled him to Quito, Ecuador. This was to be the beginning of Negroponte's long distinguished career as an ambassador. In 1981, he became the U.S. Ambassador to
Honduras. From 1985 to 1987, Negroponte held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Subsequently, he served as
Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, from 1987 to 1989; Ambassador to
Mexico, from 1989 to 1993; and Ambassador to the
Philippines from 1993 to 1996. As Deputy National Security Advisor to President
Ronald Reagan, he was involved in the campaign to remove General
Manuel Noriega from power in
Panama. From 1997 until his appointment as ambassador to the U.N., Negroponte was an executive with
McGraw-Hill.
Ambassador to Honduras (1981–1985) From 1981 to 1985, Negroponte was the U.S. ambassador to
Honduras. During this time, the US began to maintain a significant military presence there, with the goal of
overthrowing the revolutionary
Sandinista government of
Nicaragua, which had overthrown the Somoza dictatorship in a civil war. Military aid to Honduras grew from $4 million to $77.4 million a year. Speaking of Negroponte and other senior U.S. officials, an ex-Honduran congressman, Efraín Díaz, was quoted as saying: "Their attitude was one of tolerance and silence. They needed Honduras to loan its territory more than they were concerned about innocent people being killed." Substantial evidence later emerged to support the contention that Negroponte knew serious violations of human rights were being committed by the Honduran government, yet did not recommend ending U.S. military aid to Honduras.
Senator Christopher Dodd of
Connecticut, on September 14, 2001, as reported in the
Congressional Record, aired his concerns on the occasion of Negroponte's nomination to the position of UN ambassador: Based upon the Committee's review of State Department and
CIA documents, it would seem that Ambassador Negroponte knew far more about human rights abuses perpetrated by the Honduran government than he chose to share with the committee in 1989 or in embassy contributions at the time to annual State Department Human Rights reports. Dodd cited a 1985 cable sent by Negroponte that made it clear that Negroponte was aware of and urged for reform to address the threat of "future human rights abuses" by "secret operating cells" left over by General
Gustavo Álvarez Martínez, the chief of the Honduran armed forces, after he was forcibly removed from his post by fellow military commanders in 1984. The cables reveal that Negroponte repeatedly urged for updates to the Honduran criminal code and justice system to replace arbitrary measures taken by the Honduran government after events such as the destruction of the nation's main power plant at Tegucigalpa and the abduction of the entire business establishment of San Pedro Sula, Honduras' second largest city, in 1982. The previous U.S. ambassador to Honduras,
Jack Binns, who was appointed by President
Jimmy Carter, made numerous complaints about human rights abuses by the
Honduran Army under the government of
Policarpo Paz García. Binns later acknowledged that the Honduran Army was supported by military assistance from the Argentine junta and the CIA during the Carter administration, and that neither the Honduran government nor the CIA kept the embassy informed of what it was doing. The scale of the carnage in Honduras was limited to less than 300 'disappearances' during the five years of the Negroponte and Binns ambassadorships as compared with 70,000 lost lives as a result of civil war and repression in El Salvador, notwithstanding that Honduras was involved in a low-level civil war punctuated at times by invasions of its territory. In April 2005, as the Senate confirmation hearings for the National Intelligence post were held, hundreds of documents were released by the State Department in response to a
FOIA request by
The Washington Post. exceptionally energetic, action-oriented ambassador whose anti-communist convictions led him to downplay human rights abuses in Honduras, the most reliable U.S. ally in the region. There is little in the documents the State Department has released so far to support his assertion that he used "quiet diplomacy" to persuade the Honduran authorities to investigate the most egregious violations, including the mysterious disappearance of dozens of government opponents. The
New York Times wrote that the documents revealed: ...a tough cold warrior who enthusiastically carried out President Ronald Reagan's strategy. They show he sent admiring reports to Washington about the Honduran Army chief, who was blamed for human rights violations, warned that peace talks with the Nicaraguan government might be a dangerous "Trojan horse" and pleaded with officials in Washington to impose greater secrecy on the Honduran role in aiding the contras. The cables show that Mr. Negroponte worked closely with
William J. Casey, then director of central intelligence, on the Reagan administration's anti-Communist offensive in Central America. He helped word a secret 1983 presidential "finding" authorizing support for the Contras, as the Nicaraguan rebels were known, and met regularly with Honduran military officials to win and retain their backing for the covert action. Negroponte was opposed to early drafts of peace settlements on grounds that they would have left undisturbed the threat of expansion of the Nicaraguan armed forces with Soviet and Cuban aid. Negroponte also tried to undermine efforts by Costa Rican president
Oscar Arias's Contadora peace initiative (for which Arias won a Nobel Prize). In his tenure in Honduras, Negroponte steered a middle course between State Department and journalists who favored a policy of nonresistance to the militarization of the Sandinista regime to power Nicaragua and its aid to rebel movements in Honduras and El Salvador and 'hard line' persons within the Reagan administration who would have involved the United States in Central America through actions such as blockades, bombing of Nicaraguan airfields, provision of offensive weapons, and installation of permanent military bases. However, a study of American policy has noted that: the United States had a great deal to do with the preservation of Honduran stability. Had it not been for U.S. enticements and pressures, elections probably would not have been held in 1980 and 1981. The perpetuation of the military dictatorship would have undermined the legitimacy of the political order, making it far more vulnerable to revolutionary turmoil. By the same token, strong North American opposition to
President Suazo's attempt to remain in power in 1985 helped preserve the fragile legitimacy that had been built over the preceding five years... massive economic aid prevented the economy's collapse... without the United States, it might well have disintegrated into chaos. Following Bush-Gorbachev meetings beginning in 1986, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union ended military support for 'proxy wars' in Central America, and free elections in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador followed. Senator Bill Bradley regarded the whole episode as "a minor issue--the supply of arms to the Nicaraguan contras, a policy that took on monumental proportions inside the Beltway and upon those liberals who saw another quagmire in every exercise of military power."
Assistant Secretary for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries (1985–1989) In this posting, Negroponte together with Ambassador Richard Benedick negotiated the Montreal Protocol on Ozone, the most successful modern environmental treaty, overcoming opposition from Europe, Russia, and China and from some Reagan administration officials. He also fostered scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union, clashing with 'hard liners' like Richard Perle, as well as two treaties relating to cooperation in dealing with nuclear accidents in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster.
Ambassador to Mexico (1989–1993) During Negroponte's tour as US Ambassador to Mexico, he was instrumental in persuading the Bush administration to respond to a Mexican initiative by negotiating the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) despite initial opposition by the U.S. Office of Trade Representative. His tenure in Mexico was thus the most consequential of any modern American ambassadorship. Another commentator noted the subsequent proliferation of Negroponte's vision in other free trade agreements. He officiated at the embassy where he liberalized visa practices.
Ambassador to the UN (2001–2004) President George W. Bush appointed Negroponte to be U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations in February 2001. There was substantial opposition to his nomination from Senate Democrats, and Negroponte was questioned over his knowledge of human rights abuses in Honduras while he was ambassador. Negroponte, however, warned the Bush administration about the adverse consequences of intervening in Iraq. Negroponte "was instrumental in winning unanimous approval of a Security Council resolution that demanded
Saddam Hussein comply with U.N. mandates to disarm".
Ambassador to Iraq (2004–2005) On April 19, 2004, Negroponte was nominated by
U.S. President George W. Bush to be the
United States Ambassador to Iraq after the June 30 transfer of sovereignty to the new Iraqi government. He was confirmed by the
United States Senate on May 6, 2004, by a vote of 95 to 3, and was sworn in on June 23, 2004, replacing
L. Paul Bremer as the U.S.'s highest ranking American civilian in Iraq. He advised the Bush administration that security had to precede reconstruction in Iraq, organized a peaceful election, and gave advice, equally unwelcome to Secretary Rumsfeld and Democrats in Congress, that a five-year commitment would be required.
Director of National Intelligence (2005–2007) On February 17, 2005, President
George W. Bush named Negroponte as the first
Director of National Intelligence, (DNI), a cabinet-level position charged with coordinating the nation's
Intelligence Community. On April 21, 2005, Negroponte was confirmed by a vote of 98 to 2 in the Senate, and subsequently sworn into the office that was called "substantially stronger" than its predecessor position, the Director of Central Intelligence. Reaction in the intelligence community to Negroponte's nomination was, according to
Newsweek, "overwhelmingly positive" because he had "earned the respect of many intel professionals since those early days of the Reagan counterinsurgency."
The Times noted, "if anyone can bring a semblance of unity to America's bewildering network of competing spy agencies, it is John Negroponte." President
George W. Bush swore him in on February 27, 2007, at the
U.S. Department of State in the Benjamin Franklin Room. As Deputy Secretary, Negroponte served as the principal deputy and adviser to the Secretary of State, acting as chief operating officer of the State Department and overseeing the formulation and conduct of U.S. foreign policy. President Bush emphasized at his swearing-in that Negroponte would "help guide diplomats deployed around the globe" and "work with Secretary Rice and the leaders of other federal agencies to ensure that America speaks with one voice."
Iraq policy and reconstruction Negroponte played a central role in Iraq policy during the
Iraq War, drawing on his previous experience as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. In December 2007, he conducted an extensive six-day tour of Iraq, visiting nine locations across eight provinces—including
Basrah,
Fallujah,
Ramadi, and
Baghdad. During this visit, he met with over half of the
Provincial Reconstruction Teams operating in Iraq, and emphasized the importance of following security gains with political reconciliation, warning that without progress, Iraq risked "falling back to the more violent patterns of the past." Negroponte advocated for the
International Compact with Iraq, a comprehensive economic reform initiative involving more than 70 countries and international organizations. He also promoted the
Economic Empowerment in Strategic Regions Initiative, designed to harness private sector development in conflict areas—including the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, Iraq, and
Mindanao in the Philippines.
Economic diplomacy and trade policy Under Negroponte's leadership, the State Department pursued an aggressive economic diplomacy agenda. He championed the approval of four pending
free trade agreements with
Peru,
Colombia,
Panama, and
South Korea, arguing that their defeat would represent "a victory for
Hugo Chávez of
Venezuela." During his tenure, he noted that the Bush administration had negotiated more free trade agreements than all previous administrations combined, including agreements with the
Dominican Republic,
Central America (
CAFTA-DR),
Australia,
Bahrain,
Chile,
Jordan,
Morocco,
Oman, and
Singapore. Negroponte also promoted
Reconstruction Opportunity Zones for
Afghanistan, and earthquake-affected regions of
Pakistan, designed to allow duty-free entry of certain products to create job opportunities and counter extremism.
U.S.–China relations A significant component of Negroponte's portfolio involved managing the
U.S.-China Senior Dialogue, a high-level diplomatic mechanism for bilateral consultation. He co-chaired the sixth round of the Senior Dialogue with Chinese State Councilor
Dai Bingguo in Washington, D.C., on December 15, 2008. In January 2009, near the end of his tenure, Negroponte traveled to
Beijing to attend events commemorating the 30th anniversary of U.S.-China diplomatic relations, reflecting on the dramatic transformation in bilateral ties since his first visit to China in 1972 as part of a delegation led by
Henry Kissinger.
Other diplomatic initiatives Negroponte oversaw diplomatic engagement across multiple regions during a period of global challenges. He participated in the dedication ceremony for the new
U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on January 5, 2009, and traveled to
Pakistan in December 2008 for a memorial ceremony honoring American personnel killed in the
2008 Marriott Hotel bombing in
Islamabad. He also conducted diplomatic missions to
Ireland,
Northern Ireland, and various other countries to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives. Negroponte's tenure concluded on January 20, 2009, with the end of the Bush administration and the inauguration of President
Barack Obama.
Later career ,
CFR President
Richard N. Haass, former Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, Senator
John Warner, and
Andrea Mitchell at
Ronald Reagan Centennial Roundtable in 2011 Negroponte joined McLarty Associates, an international strategic advisory firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., in 2009. He serves on the
Leadership Council of Concordia, a think tank based in New York City focused on promoting effective public–private collaboration for greater sustainability.
Opposition to Trump Negroponte was one of 50 signatories of a statement concerning 2016 Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump in which Trump was called "reckless" and stated that he would "put at risk our country's national security and well-being." In 2020, Negroponte, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that President Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him." == Personal life ==