John K. Naland

John Naland retired from the Foreign Service in 2015 after a 29-year career that included service in Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico (as Principal Officer at U.S. Consulate Matamoros), and Iraq (leading the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Basra). Washington assignments included the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff, the State Department Operations Center, and the White House Situation Room. He currently is the Retiree Vice President of the American Foreign Service Association – the union representing career diplomats that he twice headed as president. He also is President of the Foreign Service Youth Foundation. He has had over 100 articles and essays published in the Foreign Service Journal. A former U.S. Army cavalry officer, he is a graduate of the Army War College. Born in Wichita, Kansas, he grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana where he graduated from Tulane University.