David L. Aaron

{{short description|American diplomat and writer (born 1938)}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2016}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = David L. Aaron | image = | office = 11th [[United States Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] | president = [[Bill Clinton]] | term_start = August 2, 1993 | term_end = November 28, 1997 | predecessor = [[Alan Larson]] | successor= [[Amy L. Bondurant]] | office2 = [[United States Deputy National Security Advisor]] | term_start2 = January 20, 1977 | term_end2 = January 20, 1981 | president2 = [[Jimmy Carter]] | predecessor2 = [[William G. Hyland]] | successor2 = [[James W. Nance]] | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|8|21}} | birth_place = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], U.S. | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | spouse = {{marriage|[[Chloe Aaron]]|1962|February 29, 2020|reason=d.}} }}

'''David Laurence Aaron''' (born August 21, 1938) is an American diplomat and writer who served in the [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Bill Clinton]] administrations. He graduated from [[Occidental College]] with a BA, and from [[Princeton University]] with an MPA. He later received an honorary Ph.D. from Occidental College. He is currently director of the [[RAND Corporation]]'s Center for Middle East Public Policy.

==Background and early career== Aaron was born in [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois, United States]]. He entered the U.S. foreign service in 1962, where he served as a political and economic officer in [[Guayaquil, Ecuador]]. In 1964 he was assigned to the NATO desk at the [[Department of State]]. He subsequently served as a political officer to [[NATO]] where he worked on the Nuclear Planning Group and on the [[Non Proliferation Treaty]].

He then joined the [[Arms Control and Disarmament Agency]] where he served as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks]] (SALT), during which Aaron was a key negotiator of an agreement with the [[Soviet Union]] to reduce the risk of nuclear weapon accidents. He was then recruited to serve on [[Henry Kissinger]]'s [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] staff during the [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] administration, from 1972 to 1974. During that time, Aaron drafted NSSM 242 on [[Nuclear strategy|Nuclear Strategy]], which came to be known as the [[Schlesinger Doctrine]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title= The Nixon Administration, the "Horror Strategy," and the Search for Limited Nuclear Options, 1969–1972|journal= Journal of Cold War Studies|volume=7|issue=3|pages=34–78|doi=10.1162/1520397054377188|year=2005|last1=Burr|first1=William|s2cid= 57567321}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=The French Factor in U.S. Foreign Policy during the Nixon-Pompidou Period, 1969–1974|journal= Journal of Cold War Studies|volume=13|pages=4–59|doi=10.1162/JCWS_a_00073|year=2011|last1= Trachtenberg|first1= Marc|s2cid= 57559412}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Monten|first=Jonathan|date=2005|title=The Roots of the Bush Doctrine: Power, Nationalism, and Democracy Promotion in U.S. Strategy|journal=International Security|volume=29|issue=4|pages=112–156|issn=0162-2889|jstor=4137499|doi=10.1162/isec.2005.29.4.112|s2cid=57570914}}</ref>

In 1974, on the recommendation of [[Zbigniew Brzezinski]], Aaron became Senator [[Walter Mondale]]'s legislative assistant. The following year, Aaron was task force leader of the Senate's [[United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|Select Committee on Intelligence]]. He was the principal architect of the committee's recommendations. Aaron later followed Mondale to the [[Jimmy Carter]] Presidential campaign.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Public papers of the Presidents of the United States, Jimmy Carter: 1980-81 (in three books).|last1=United States|last2=President (1977-1981 : Carter)|last3=Carter|first3=Jimmy|last4=United States|last5=Office of the Federal Register|date=1981|publisher=U.S. G.P.O.|location=Washington|language=en|oclc=8513738}}</ref>

== Deputy National Security Advisor == In 1977, Aaron was asked by Brzezinski, who had been appointed the [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]], to become [[Deputy National Security Advisor]] in the administration of [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=THE DAILY DIARY OF PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER|url=https://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/assets/documents/diary/1980/d050380t.pdf|journal=Jimmy Carter Library}}</ref> Aaron was one of several former [[Henry Kissinger|Kissinger]] aides appointed by [[Jimmy Carter]] to [[foreign policy]] and [[Defense (military)|defense]] positions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.c-span.org/person/?davidaaron|title=David L. Aaron {{!}} C-SPAN.org|website=www.c-span.org|access-date=2019-05-17}}</ref>

During his time at the [[White House]], Aaron made a name for himself in foreign policy circles and was recognized as a rising star in the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]].<ref name="Burt">{{Cite news |last=Burt |first=Richard |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/03/28/archives/brzezinskis-deputy-a-source-of-growing-influence-confrontation-with.html |title=Brzezinski's Deputy, a Source of Growing Influence |date=March 28, 1979 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Aaron was a special envoy to Africa, Latin America, China, Israel and Europe, and became a trusted envoy on Presidential missions. Shortly after Carter's inauguration, Aaron attended the [[Bilderberg Group|Bilderberg Conference]], in which he undertook lengthy private discussions with German Chancellor [[Helmut Schmidt]]. In [[Israel]], Aaron worked with [[Moshe Dayan]] on the concept of "[[autonomy]]" for the [[Palestinians]]. This concept helped to open the door for the [[Camp David Agreements]], which are understood to have structured peace between [[Egypt]] and Israel.

Aaron also represented the White House in talks with the Office of French [[President (government title)|President]] [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] in [[Paris]], as well as with the Cabinet Office at [[10 Downing Street]] in London. President Carter tapped Aaron to lead an inter-agency mission to structure an agreement with European nations to deploy U.S. Pershing Missiles and Ground Launched Cruise Missiles in Europe, in response to the [[Military deployment|deployment]] of [[SS-20]] Intermediate Missiles by the [[Soviet Union]]. He persuaded key governments to accept the U.S. deployments, as well as to seek negotiations with the [[U.S.S.R.]] for the future bilateral elimination of the deployments.

Aaron was also seen as a tough and sometimes controversial figure. The U.S. Ambassador in Paris complained that he was going behind his back in secret dealings with French President Giscard d'Estaing's office. In 1978, he came head to head with [[Director of Central Intelligence]] [[Stansfield Turner|Turner]] of the [[CIA]], on Turner's cutbacks and at the CIA. Aaron's image as a "tough customer" was intensified during an attack on [[Yemen Arab Republic|North Yemen]] by [[South Yemen]] which was backed by the Soviet Union.<ref name="Burt" /> President [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]], [[Zbigniew Brzezinski|Brzezinski]] and [[Cyrus Vance]] were on a mission to [[Egypt]] and [[Israel]]. He remained in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] to coordinate the U.S. response. Aaron's hard-line against Communist expansion led him to push for the dispatch of $400 million in arms to North Yemen. [[White House]] staff commented on his tough rule, one staff member was quoted as saying, "Believe it or not, people were relieved when Brzezinski got back to town".

== Post-government career == When [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] became president in 1981, Aaron moved into the private sector, becoming vice president for Mergers and Acquisitions at [[Oppenheimer and Co.]] and Vice Chairman of Oppenheimer International. Aaron left Oppenheimer in 1985, to write and lecture, but went on to serve on the board of directors of Oppenheimer's Quest for Value Dual Purpose Fund. Over the next several years he published three novels (State Scarlet; Agent of Influence and Crossing By Night) which were translated into ten languages. He also wrote a television documentary, "The Lessons of the Gulf War", hosted by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [[William J. Crowe]]. He was also a [[consultant]] for the 20th Century Fund, from 1990 to 1992.

Aaron was involved in the election campaigns of [[Walter Mondale]] and [[Bill Clinton]]. In Mondale's campaign, Aaron played a leading role as senior consultant on foreign policy and defense. Aaron served in Clinton's foreign policy team during his election campaign.

== OECD Ambassador tenure and aftermath == In 1993 he became United States Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trade.gov/ooms/itahistory/tg_ooms_002044.asp|title=David L. Aaron|access-date=May 17, 2019|archive-date=April 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417211907/https://www.trade.gov/ooms/itahistory/tg_ooms_002044.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> and in 1996 was assigned the additional job of White House Special Envoy for Cryptography. At the OECD he successfully negotiated the convention to Prohibit Bribery in International Business Transactions. As Special Envoy for Cryptography, Aaron pushed for a global standard that would require computer users with high grade encryption to submit keys to their codes for scrambling data to an independent authority, which would hold them in escrow and make them available to law enforcement only under a court order.

At the time, he argued that unbreakable codes in the hands of terrorists would threaten every country's security. However, he was attacked by advocates of privacy rights, who said that the compromise could easily be misused by Governments and corporations. In 1997 he was appointed [[Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade]], where ironically he negotiated privacy rules with the European Union on the handling of personal data.

After Clinton's second term in office, Aaron became senior international advisor at [[Dorsey & Whitney]]. He left [[Dorsey & Whitney]] in 2003 to join the [[RAND Corporation]] as a senior fellow. At RAND, he directs The Center For Middle East Public Policy and recently produced a non fiction book, "In their Own Words: Voices of Jihad", published by the RAND Corporation.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2008|others=Aaron, David|title=New Book Provides Unique View Into Mind of Fanatical Jihadists|url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG602.html|language=en}}</ref>

== Personal life == David married [[Chloe Aaron]] in 1962, with whom he had a son; his wife died in early 2020.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Genzlinger |first=Neil |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/arts/television/chloe-aaron-dead.html |title=Chloe Aaron, a Top PBS Executive, Is Dead at 81 |date=March 31, 2020 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2020 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He is a member of the [[American Ditchley Foundation]], the [[Atlantic Council]], the [[Council on Foreign Relations]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Membership Roster - Council on Foreign Relations|url=http://www.cfr.org/about/membership/roster.html?letter=A|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170515234927/http://www.cfr.org/about/membership/roster.html?letter=A|archive-date=May 15, 2017|access-date=January 27, 2012}}</ref> the [[International League of Human Rights]], the [[National Democratic Institute]], and the [[Pacific Council on International Policy]].

== References == <references /> * The Other Side of the Story, Jody Powell, Morrow 1984

==External links== * [http://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/MC275 David L. Aaron Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University] * {{C-SPAN|13194}}

{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{succession box | before = [[William G. Hyland]] | title = [[Deputy National Security Advisor]] | after = [[James W. Nance]] | years = 1977–1981 }} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Stuart E. Eizenstat]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade]]|years=1997–2000}} {{s-aft|after=[[Robert LaRussa]]}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaron, David L.}} [[Category:Occidental College alumni]] [[Category:1938 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] [[Category:United States deputy national security advisors]] [[Category:Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni]] [[Category:American expatriates in Ecuador]] [[Category:Under secretaries of commerce for international trade]]