Jamie Metzl is Executive Vice President of Asia Society. He is responsible for overseeing the institution's strategic directions and overall program activities globally.

An expert on Southeast Asian history and politics, Dr. Metzl has extensive government experience including service in the White House, the Department of State, and the U.S. Senate. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's Fifth Congressional District in Kansas City.

Dr. Metzl's government appointments have included Deputy Staff Director and Senior Counselor of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senior Coordinator for International Public Information and Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the Department of State, and Director for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs on the National Security Council. At the White House, he coordinated U.S. government international public information campaigns for Iraq, Kosovo, and other crises. A Khmer speaker, he was a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) from 1991 to 1993, where he helped establish a nation-wide human rights investigation and monitoring unit for Cambodia.

Dr. Metzl has appeared widely on national media, including Meet the Press and the Today show. The author of a book on human rights in Southeast Asia, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, and many other publications. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Founder and Co-Chair of the Board of the Partnership for a Secure America, a former White House Fellow, and a former Aspen Institute Crown Fellow. He holds a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from Oxford University, a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School, and is a magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.

Dr. Metzl has completed four ironman triathlons and 20 marathons. His novel, The Depths of the Sea, was published by St. Martin's Press in May 2004.

Blog Entries by Jamie Metzl

My Hamid Karzai Daydream

1 Comments | Posted October 1, 2009 | 06:50 PM (EST)


Just back from serving as an election monitor in Afghanistan, I became distressed at how much the Karzai government's mishandling of the electoral process and rampant corruption are undermining its own legitimacy and that of the overall international effort. I began to daydream about Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaking directly...

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Marriage Counseling for the United States and Russia

Posted February 27, 2009 | 02:38 PM (EST)


co-authored by Matt Rojansky

The relationship between Washington and Moscow has sometimes resembled a hot-and-cold romance over the past ten years. In 2001, when then-President Bush looked into the soul of Vladimir Putin at their first summit meeting in Slovenia, the two countries seemed headed for a...

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Three Quick Steps to Jump-Start America's Public Diplomacy

Posted January 15, 2009 | 11:45 AM (EST)


As is well known, popular perceptions of the United States in most places around the world have taken a nose-dive over the past eight years. The highest level US official in charge of spreading America's message, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy James Glassman, recently said, correctly, that the world...

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Beijing 2008: America's Sputnik Moment

Posted September 9, 2008 | 01:34 PM (EST)


August 8, 2008 may someday be remembered as the first day of the post-American era. Or it could be remembered as the sputnik moment when the American people realized just how far America has fallen due to the monumental mismanagement by America's leaders over the past eight years and decided...

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China's Olympic Insecurity

Posted August 5, 2008 | 11:01 AM (EST)


China has a great deal to be proud of as the Olympic Games approach. The country has lifted over 400 million people out of poverty (albeit poverty exacerbated by the disastrous agricultural policies of the Chinese government under Mao) and lit a fire of innovation and excitement among the Chinese...

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Doping and Dissent: Achilles Heels of the Beijing Olympics?

Posted July 14, 2008 | 03:08 PM (EST)


I'm concerned about the upcoming Olympics, and what they might mean for US-China relations. Here's why.

As the Olympics approach, Americans will start paying more attention to the host country as more images and stories begin to fill American newspapers and television screens about China. Although many Americans have...

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