{{Short description|American academic and author}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = J. Peter Pham | image = Peter Pham 5x7 200 1.jpg | office = United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa | president = Donald Trump | term_start = March 1, 2020 | term_end = January 20, 2021 | successor = | predecessor = Office established | office2 = United States Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes | president2 = Donald Trump | term_start2 = October 29, 2018 | term_end2 = March 1, 2020 | predecessor2 = Tom Perriello | successor2 = | birth_name = {{nowrap|John Peter Pham}} | education = University of Chicago (B.A.), Gregorian University (Ph.D.) }} '''John Peter Pham''' is an American academic and author specializing in international relations with a focus on African affairs. Pham was the United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sahel/u-s-creates-new-envoy-position-to-counter-rising-terrorism-in-sahel-idUSKBN20T2ZJ|title= U.S. creates new envoy position to counter rising terrorism in Sahel|first=Humeyra|last=Pamuk|publisher=Reuters|date=March 6, 2020}}</ref> from March 2020 until the end of President Donald Trump's administration in January 2021.<ref name="State Dept">{{cite web|date=November 2018|title=Dr. J. Peter Pham, Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa|url=https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/287269.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114163723/https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/287269.htm|archive-date=2018-11-14|publisher=United States Department of State}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Pham|first=Dr. J. Peter|date=January 20, 2021|title=It's been honor to serve in the @StateDept under @mikepompeo as Special Envoy for the #Sahel|url=https://twitter.com/drjppham/status/1351937067366944775|access-date=2021-03-05|website=Twitter|language=en}}</ref> Prior to this, he served as the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa from November 2018.<ref name="Nauert">Heather Nauert, "[https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/11/287252.htm Peter Pham as Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa]", U.S. Department of State (November 9, 2018).</ref><ref name="State Dept"/> Prior to these appointments, Pham was also Vice President of the Atlantic Council and Director of its Africa Center.<ref name="Cooper">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/world/africa/africa-donald-trump.html|title=Trump Team's Queries About Africa Point to Skepticism About Aid|first=Helene|last=Cooper|date=January 13, 2017|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref name="Atlantic Council">[http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/experts/list/j-peter-pham#fullbio Atlantic Council biography of J. Peter Pham].</ref><ref name="State Dept"/> In September 2020, Pham was accorded the personal rank of ambassador, becoming the first Vietnamese American to achieve that rank.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/biographies/j-peter-pham/ |title=Ambassador J. Peter Pham|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=November 12, 2020}}</ref> After leaving the Trump administration, Pham rejoined the Atlantic Council as a Distinguished Fellow, and also serves on the boards of several listed as well as privately held corporations.
==Career== Pham received a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from the Gregorian University.<ref name="State Dept"/> In August 2004, Pham joined the faculty of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia as a member of the institution's new justice studies program.<ref name="JMU news">{{cite web|url=http://www.jmu.edu/news/people_Pham.shtml|title=Pham Shares Expertise on Somali Pirates|publisher=James Madison University, Office of Public Affairs}}</ref> He thereafter became a tenured associate professor of Justice Studies, Political Science, and Africana Studies, was director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs.<ref name="USCC">{{cite web|url=https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/4.13.11Pham_0.pdf|title=U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission biography of Dr. J. Peter Pham|publisher=United States Government Publishing Office|access-date=July 7, 2017}}</ref><ref name="State Dept"/>
Pham went to Liberia in 2005 to serve as member of the USAID-funded International Republican Institute (IRI) delegation monitoring the national elections in that country.<ref name="USCC"/> In 2006 and 2007, Pham served in the IRI pre-election assessment and observation delegations in Nigeria, respectively.<ref name="USCC"/><ref name="NCAFP">{{cite web|url=http://www.ncafp.org/articles/CVs%20and%20Bios/CV%20Pham.pdf|title=Dr. J. PETER PHAM, Senior Fellow and Director, Africa Project|publisher=National Committee on American Foreign Policy|access-date=July 7, 2017}}</ref> He served on an IRI election observation delegation in Somaliland in 2010.<ref name="USCC"/>
While on sabbatical from James Madison University from 2009 to 2011, Pham served as senior vice president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, and editor of its bimonthly journal, ''American Foreign Policy Interests'',<ref name="State Dept"/> and has been a member of the Senior Advisory Group of the United States Africa Command from its creation until 2013.<ref name="USCC"/> Since 2011, Pham has been director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C. and, since 2016, also served as vice president for research and regional initiatives.<ref name="Atlantic Council"/>
In April 2015, the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution elected Pham to the National Advisory Board of the National Museum of African Art,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.si.edu/Content/Governance/pdf/Board_Meeting_Minutes_4_13_15_APPROVED.pdf|title=Minutes of the April 13, 2015, Meeting of the Board of Regents|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=July 9, 2017}}</ref><ref name="State Dept"/> of which he is currently co-vice chair.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://africa.si.edu/about/board/|title=National Museum of African Art National Advisory Board|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=July 9, 2017}}</ref> Pham is the incumbent vice president of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, an American learned society dedicated to research and teaching in Middle East and African Studies, and was editor-in-chief of its quarterly ''Journal of the Middle East and Africa''.<ref name="USCC"/><ref>[http://www.asmeascholars.org/professor-j-peter-pham-vice-president/ Dr. J. Peter Pham, Vice President] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710151851/http://www.asmeascholars.org/professor-j-peter-pham-vice-president/ |date=July 10, 2017 }}, Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa from 2010 until 2017.</ref><ref name="State Dept"/> He is also a frequent guest lecturer on African affairs at the Foreign Service Institute, the U.S. Army War College, the Joint Special Operations University, and other U.S. Government professional educational institutions, and appears as a commentator on broadcast and print media outlets.<ref name="USCC"/>
In late 2016, Pham "published a paper widely taken as an Africa policy manifesto for the new administration" of President-elect Donald Trump.<ref name="Confidential">{{cite web|url=https://www.africa-confidential.com/blog-entry/America's+new+African+insiders|title=America's new African insiders|publisher=Africa Confidential|date=May 25, 2017}}</ref> It was thereafter reported in January 2017 that Trump was considering Pham for the position of Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the State Department.<ref name="Cooper"/><ref name="Amiar">{{cite web|url=https://www.medias24.com/MAROC/INTERNATIONAL/170001-Administration-Trump-John-Peter-Pham-de-l-Atlantic-Council-pressenti-pour-s-occuper-de-l-Afrique.html|title=Administration Trump: John Peter Pham de l'Atlantic Council pressenti pour s'occuper de l'Afrique|publisher=Medias24|first=Jamal|last=Amiar|date=January 13, 2017}}</ref> On November 9, 2018, the State Department announced Pham's appointment as United States Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa.<ref name="Nauert"/> On March 1, 2020, it was announced that Pham was appointed to the newly created position of United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gh.usembassy.gov/u-s-special-envoy-for-the-sahel-region-highlights-ghanas-regional-democratic-and-security-leadership/|title=U.S. Special Envoy for the Sahel Region highlights Ghana's Regional Democratic and Security Leadership|date=January 11, 2021|website=U.S. Embassy in Ghana}}</ref> After serving in the first Trump administration, Pham joined the boards of several companies involved in strategic sectors in Africa, including Africell, the sole U.S.-owned mobile network operator in Africa;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techafricanews.com/2023/07/21/africell-board-member-ambassador-j-peter-pham-ranks-among-top-influencers-in-us-africa-relations/|title=Africell Board Member, Ambassador J. Peter Pham, Ranks Among Top Influencers in US-Africa Relations|first1=Aayushya|last1=Ranjan|work=TechAfrica News|date=July 21, 2023}}</ref> Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd., which appointed Pham as a non-executive director in May 2021,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1621259108199159900/in-brief-rainbow-rare-earths-names-peter-pham-as-non-executive-.aspx |title=IN BRIEF: Rainbow Rare Earths names Peter Pham as non-executiveRainbow Rare Earths Ltd - rare earth element mining in Burundi, East Africa - Appoints Peter Pham|work=Morningstar News|date=May 17, 2021}}</ref> and Ivanhoe Atlantic, the U.S. company developing the Kon Kweni iron ore resource in Guinea, of which he is non-executive chairman.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://allafrica.com/stories/202501240688.html|title=Africa: Trump Will Change U.S.-Africa Ties - How Much and How Fast?|first1=Reed|last1=Kramer|work=allAfrica|date=January 24, 2025}}</ref>
As an ordained Episcopal priest, Pham is a volunteer assistant at St. Paul's Parish, K Street, in Washington, D.C.<ref>[http://www.stpauls-kst.com/sites/default/files/June%202017%20Epistle%20Final.pdf The Epistle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190122205619/http://stpauls-kst.com/sites/default/files/June%202017%20Epistle%20Final.pdf |date=January 22, 2019 }}, St. Paul's Parish, K Street (June 2017).</ref>
==Publications== Pham has written several books and several hundred articles, primarily on African history, politics and economics.
* "Africa in the Second Trump Administration" (''The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune'', 2024) * "Getting Real about Critical Minerals" (''The National Interest'', 2024) * "Without Africa, Biden's Energy Policies are a Win for China" (''The National Interest'', 2024) * "China's Middle East Marathon" (''The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune'', 2023) * ''The Good and Bad Continuity of Biden's New Africa Strategy'' (with Samuel B. Millner; ''The National Interest'', 2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Good and Bad Continuity of Biden’s New Africa Strategy |url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/good-and-bad-continuity-bidens-new-africa-strategy-204373/ |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=The National Interest |language=en-US}}</ref> * ''After the Accords: How the Biden Administration Can Bolster Israeli-Moroccan Ties'' (with Samuel B. Millner; ''The National Interest'', 2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=After the Accords: How Biden Can Bolster Israeli-Moroccan Ties |url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/after-accords-how-biden-can-bolster-israeli-moroccan-ties-201807/ |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=The National Interest |language=en-US}}</ref> * ''A Measured US Strategy for the New Africa'' (with James L. Jones; Atlantic Council Strategy Papers, 2017) * ''State Collapse, Insurgency, and Counterinsurgency: Lessons from Somalia'' (Didactic Press, 2015) * ''India in Africa: Implications of an Emerging Power for Africom and U. S. Strategy'' (Strategic Studies Institute, 2011) * ''Africa: Mapping New Boundaries in International Law'' (coauthor, Hart Publishing, 2007)<ref name="JMU news"/> * ''Child Soldiers, Adult Interests: Global Dimensions of the Sierra Leonean Tragedy'' (Nova Publishers, 2005)<ref name="JMU news"/> * ''Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State'' (Reed Press, 2004)<ref name="JMU news"/>
For a number of years, Pham also wrote a weekly syndicated column on African security issues and American interests, "Strategic Interests", which is distributed by the World Defense Review, and in recent years has contributed to various online sources such as ''The Hill'', ''Huffington Post'', and ''U.S. News & World Report''.<ref name="USCC"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pham, J. Peter}} Category:James Madison University faculty Category:American Africanists Category:American people of Vietnamese descent Category:21st-century American male writers Category:United States special envoys Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Atlantic Council