David Speedie is the founder and former director of the Council's program on U.S. Global Engagement. He is a founding member of The American Committee for East-West Accord.
In 2007–2008, Speedie was also a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Speedie worked at Carnegie Corporation of New York from 1992 to 2007. He joined the Corporation as a program officer in the cooperative security program and was appointed program chair in March 1993, a position he held for almost 12 years. In 2004, he was appointed to serve as special advisor to the president and director of the Corporation's project on Islam.
He was recruited from the W. Alton Jones Foundation where he was codirector of the secure society program and directed, over a five year period, programs in the arts, urban affairs, and the environment. In the 1980s, Speedie was a consultant to nonprofits in management, marketing, and fund-raising as well as director of cultural affairs for Mayor Bill Green in Philadelphia. He also served as the bicentennial liaison officer at the British Embassy in Washington.
For three years, Speedie was a professor of English and drama at the University of St Andrews in his native Scotland. Speedie holds an Honours M.A. [First Class] in Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Studies and an M.Litt. from the University of St Andrews. He was a visiting research fellow as a Kennedy scholar at Harvard University from 1971–1973. He has been a book editor and writer for the National Endowment for the Arts' Community Vision, a freelance journalist on politics for The Scotsman, and most recently, a reviewer for the International Journal of Middle East Studies. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Featured Work
MAY 2, 2011 • Podcast
Anatol Lieven on Pakistan
Pakistan expert Anatol Lieven unravels Pakistan's troubled and complex relationships with the U.S., Afghanistan, the Taliban, and its own army--and adds a special note ...
APR 25, 2011 • Podcast
Arkady Murashev on "Reforming" the Moscow Police Force (1991-92)
Active in Russian politics since the early days of Perestroika, Arkady Murashev discusses his part in bringing down the Soviet Union and and working towards ...
MAR 16, 2011 • Podcast
Media in Contemporary Russia
What is the current situation of journalism in Russia today, where 70 percent of media is owned by the state? The Council welcomes a delegation of ...
MAR 10, 2011 • Article
Reflections from Moscow
After a recent visit to Moscow, David Speedie casts a sympathetic eye on Russia's contradictions and societal stresses--with particular focus on its heroin and HIV/...
FEB 22, 2011 • Podcast
John Exnicios on Training USSR Dissidents
David Speedie interviews John Exnicios, former vice president of the Krieble Institute. Exnicios played a lead role in training Russian dissidents in the last years ...
JAN 3, 2011 • Podcast
Putting Middle East Youth to Work: Partnering with Business to Turn a Youth Tsunami into an Asset
Founder and CEO Ron Bruder and VP Jasmine Nahhas di Florio introduce Education for Employment Foundation, an NGO that creates employment opportunities for youth in ...
NOV 23, 2010 • Article
Water, Water Everywhere
A constructive engagement over water supply and stewardship might just create an atmosphere conducive to constructive dialogue on more contentious problems in the Middle East ...
OCT 15, 2010 • Podcast
Can Obama Please Both Arabs and Israelis? What the Polls and History Tell Us
Despite Obama's rhetoric, most Arabs still see America through the prism of pain of the Arab-Israeli conflict, says Telhami, and a majority of Arabs and ...
OCT 12, 2010 • Podcast
The Frugal Superpower: America's Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era
Michael Mandelbaum says that in this age of soaring deficits, the era marked by an expansive U.S. foreign policy is coming to an end. ...
OCT 5, 2010 • Podcast
Pakistan, the United States, and the West: David Speedie Interviews Anatol Lieven
Anatol Lieven discusses Pakistan's surprising degree of stability; the role of the army and ISI; the drug trade; and Pakistan's relationship with the U.S., ...