Kurt Volker

Kurt Douglas Volker (born December 27, 1964) is an American diplomat who served as George W. Bush's last U.S. Ambassador to NATO.

Kurt Volker was born in 1964 in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, to Benjamin and Thelma (Rowdon) Volker.

After graduating from Hatboro-Horsham Senior High School, Volker graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in International Affairs in 1984.

He was awarded an M.A. in International Relations from The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs in 1987.

After a short tenure as a CIA analyst, in 1988, Volker joined the United States Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in the United States Foreign Service.

While in the Foreign Service, he served in various assignments overseas including London and Brussels, and the US Embassy in Budapest (1994–1997).

Volker was special assistant to the United States special envoy for Bosnia negotiations, Richard Holbrooke.

Volker served as a legislative fellow on the staff of Senator John McCain from 1997 to 1998.

In 1998, he became first secretary of the US mission to NATO, and in 1999 he was sent to deputy director of NATO Secretary-General George Robertson's private office, serving in that position until 2001.

He then became acting director for European and Eurasian Affairs for the National Security Council.

In that capacity he was in charge of US preparations for 2004 Istanbul summit of NATO members and the 2002 Prague summit.

In July 2005, Volker became the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, serving in that position until he was appointed United States Permanent Representative to NATO in July 2008 by President George W. Bush.

Volker served as Ambassador in that position from July 2, 2008, to May 15, 2009.

Volker went into the private sector in 2009, becoming an independent director at The Wall Street Fund Inc, where he worked until 2012.

He has been a Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies since September 2009, and a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council since October 2009.

Volker is currently listed as a trustee at the CG Funds Trust, and a member of the board of trustees at The American College of the Mediterranean (ACM), an American-style degree-granting institution in Aix-en-Provence, France.

As an undergraduate, he was enrolled at ACM's study abroad institute, IAU College.

He is also a member of the board of directors at The Hungary Initiatives Foundation.

In addition, Volker is a member of the Atlantic Partnership.

Ukrainian media reported in June 2021 that Kurt Volker represents US investors that co-founded American University Kyiv in partnership with Arizona State University.

Volker served as a senior advisor at McLarty Associates, a global consulting firm from 2010 to 2011.

In 2011, he joined BGR Group, a Washington-based lobbying firm and investment bank, where he currently serves as a managing director in the firm's international group.

Volker was also an independent director at Evercore Wealth Management Macro Opportunity Fund until 2012.

He then became executive director of Arizona State University's McCain Institute for International Leadership when it was launched in 2012.

He was a member of the board of directors at Capital Guardian Funds Trust beginning in 2013.

On July 7, 2017, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appointed Ambassador Kurt Volker as the US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations.

Volker accompanied Tillerson on his trip to Ukraine two days later.

Later he served as executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership and in a volunteer capacity as Donald J. Trump's U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine until his resignation on September 27, 2019.

He resigned in 2019.

On September 27, 2019, Volker resigned from this official, yet volunteer, position.

In mid-September 2019, reports began to surface suggesting that a whistleblower complaint had been submitted to Michael K. Atkinson, the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, which he found to be credible and a matter of "urgent concern".

Subsequently, claims were advanced by various chairmen of U.S. House committees that Kurt Volker, while acting in his official capacity as US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, had been told by the White House "to intercede with President Zelensky" about investigations regarding Joe Biden and Paul Manafort.

Volker met with Zelensky the day after President Trump spoke by phone with the Ukrainian president, a call which would later reportedly result in a whistleblower complaint.

Two days after Volker's meeting, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats resigned, resulting in a stand-off regarding whether the new acting DNI would share the complaint with Congress.

On September 26, 2019, the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released the unclassified text of this whistleblower complaint regarding the interactions between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In this document, Volker, along with US Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, were described as having "provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to 'navigate' the request that the President had made of Mr. Zelensky".

That same day Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani posted on Twitter a screenshot that purported to be a text message from Volker to Giuliani, stating, "Mr. Mayor -- really enjoyed breakfast this morning. As discussed, connecting you here with Andrey Yermak, who is very close to President Zelensky. I suggest we schedule a call together on Monday -- maybe 10am or 11am Washington time? Kurt".

NBC News has reported, in regard to the Volker text that Giuliani allegedly received, "Whether Volker was acting on orders from Trump is unclear, and the State Department hasn't said why Volker made the introduction, other than that the Ukrainian aide requested it. But the introduction ultimately led to a meeting between Yermak and Giuliani in Spain that the whistleblower wrote was a 'direct follow-up' to Trump's call."

In the White House memorandum of the July 25 telephone call between the two presidents, President Zelensky is quoted as saying, "I will personally tell you that one of my assistants spoke with Mr. Giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine."

Notably, the date on the screenshot of the purported text message from Volker to Giuliani is July 19, six days earlier.