Ambassador (ret) Deborah A. McCarthy is an expert on U.S. foreign and national security policy with over 30 years of diplomatic experience.  Currently, she is a Fellow at Harvard University.  Most recently, Ms. McCarthy was a visiting Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.  She was the U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania (2013-2016) expanding military, cybersecurity and energy cooperation in the Baltic region.  Previously (2010-2013) she was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, leading global framework negotiations on investment, trade, finance and sanctions.  She represented the Department in multiple White House initiatives and on the U.S. government’s inbound direct investment screening body, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS).

Ms. McCarthy was the Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Greece (2008-2010) advising the National Security Council on the Greek debt crisis and successfully negotiating major military and travel agreements.  She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Narcotics and Law Enforcement; Senior Advisor for Counter Terrorism for the Western Hemisphere and Special Coordinator for Venezuela. In these capacities, she negotiated multiple security agreements throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Her other assignments include:  Deputy Ambassador U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua, Consul General Montreal, Economic Counselor U.S. Embassy Paris, Financial Economist U.S. Embassy Rome and assignments in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  Ms. McCarthy received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia and a double Masters in Economics and Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She is a Board Member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and serves on the Advisory Board of Georgetown University Master’s Program in the School of Foreign Service. She is a member of the

Atlantic Council and the American College of National Security Leaders.