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Toby T. Gati

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Toby T. Gati
Toby T. Gati
12th Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
In office
November 5, 1993 – May 31, 1997
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byDouglas P. Mulholland
Succeeded byPhyllis E. Oakley
Personal details
Born
Toby Trister Gati

1946
Brooklyn, New York City
NationalityAmerican
SpouseCharles Gati

Toby Trister Gati (born 1946) was the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research from 1993 to 1997.

Early life

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Toby T. Gati was born in Brooklyn, New York into a Jewish family originally from Russia.[1]

Education

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Toby T. Gati was educated at Pennsylvania State University, receiving a B.A. in Russian Literature and Language in 1967. She then attended Columbia University, receiving an M.A. in 1970, Master of International Affairs in 1972, and a certificate from the Harriman Institute. She was hired as researcher and became director of the Parallel Studies project in 1974.[2]

Career

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A Russian expert, Gati published several articles on the politics and foreign policy of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation and on U.S.–Russian relations.[3] She was Senior Vice President of the United Nations Association of the United States of America and in this capacity oversaw the organization's research on international political, economic and security issues.

In January 1993, Gati became a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine, and the Eurasian States at the United States National Security Council.[4][5][6] She left this position in June 1993.

President of the United States Bill Clinton then nominated Gati as Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research[7] and Gati held this office from November 5, 1993 until May 31, 1997.[8][9][10] On May 18, 1994, she penned a memorandum about the Rwandan genocide, and addressed whether the U.S. government should describe the events in Rwanda as a genocide or not. The memo "paved the way for a major switch in U.S. government policy."[11] Later, Gati told former US ambassador, Samantha Power, in relation to the Srebrenica massacre, "Ethnic cleansing was not a priority of our policy. When you make an original decision you are not going to respond, then I’m sorry, these things are going to happen."[12] In April 2000, Gati stated that Madeleine Albright and her subordinates did not care "a whit about Intelligence and Research, nor have they made much use of its full potential."[13] The previous year she had told journalist Michael Dobbs, for his biography on Albright, that Albright "could not stand doing nothing on Bosnia. She was like a horse chomping at the bit all the time. She kept on saying, ‘We have to do more.’"[14]

Since leaving government service, Gati has worked as a consultant with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, an international law firm.[citation needed] Since 2016, she has been a President of TTG Global LLC. She was also an independent board member at Lukoil.[15] She resigned from the board following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She later told the Washington Post that "it is not possible to isolate Russia forever" and added that when the war ends, there will be more engagement with Russia, including Lukoil, but "not now."[16]

Since 2016, she has served as a director/trustee of the School of Civic Education in London.[17] The School was originally founded as the School of Political Studies in Moscow in 1992,[citation needed] which led to a proliferation of such schools across Central and Eastern Europe. These formed into an Association of Schools of Political Studies[18] to train future generations of political, economic, social and cultural leaders in countries in transition, under the auspices of the Council of Europe, where it comes under the Education Department of the Directorate of Democratic Participation within the Directorate General of Democracy (“DGII”) of the Council of Europe.[19] In 2017, she defended Victoria Nuland as expressing frustration with the European Union, suggested that for Nuland to be caught in secret surveillance it "calls for some new communications equipment" and said that the tape shows that the U.S. is "using its leverage and getting involved" in the Ukraine crisis.[20]

Personal life

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She met Charles Gati while she was a visiting fellow at the Brzezinski Institute, and said that she, and Charles, considered Zbigniew Brzezinski the "godfather of our meeting." Later they became a couple and married.[1] They had one child.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b Gati, Toby T. (October 4, 2016). "The Reminiscences of Toby Trister Gati". Harriman Institute (Interview). Interviewed by Caitlin Bertin-Mahieux. Washington, D.C.: Columbia University. Archived from the original on January 4, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  2. ^ Wurst, James (2016). "Chapter One: Winning the Peace 1938-1943". The UN Association–USA: A Little Known History of Advocacy and Action. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 978-1-62637-547-5.
  3. ^ "Toby T. Gati". Russia in Global Affairs. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  4. ^ "Ambassador Thomas Pickering Oral History Excerpt". National Security Archive. February 19, 2007. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  5. ^ "The Urgency of Aiding Russia". New York Times. January 27, 1993. Archived from the original on January 18, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  6. ^ Gati, Toby (October 5, 2011). "Russia Was Not All That Opposed to NATO Expansion". Valdai (Interview). Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  7. ^ Gati, Toby (2004). Remarks by Toby Gati (Speech). Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  8. ^ "Toby Trister Gati (1946–)". Office of the Historian. State Department. Archived from the original on June 4, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  9. ^ "Putin's Challenge". PBS Newshour. October 4, 2001. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  10. ^ Greenhouse, Steven (October 9, 1995). "The Greening of U.S. Diplomacy: Focus on Ecology". New York Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  11. ^ Dobbs, Michael (April 3, 2013). "Freedom of Information Follies: FOIA Reviewers Declassify Same Rwanda Document Four Times, Creating New Secrets Each Time". Briefing Book # 420. National Security Archive. Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  12. ^ "How Britain and the US decided to abandon Srebrenica to its fate". The Guardian. July 4, 2015. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  13. ^ Marquis, Christopher (April 18, 2000). "Albright Shakes Up Staff Over Security Lapses". New York Times. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  14. ^ "Madeleine Albright, first female secretary of state, dies at 84". Washington Post. March 23, 2022. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  15. ^ "Toby Trister Gati". Budapest Forum. Archived from the original on September 21, 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  16. ^ Frankel, Todd C.; Torbati, Yeganeh (March 13, 2022). "Russian oil giant Lukoil had big dreams for its U.S. gas stations. The invasion of Ukraine could spell the end". Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  17. ^ "SCHOOL OF CIVIC EDUCATION - Filing history (Free information from Companies House)". Government of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  18. ^ "Presentation of the Association". Association of Schools of Political Studies. Council of Europe. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  19. ^ "Schools of Political Studies". Archived from the original on July 1, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  20. ^ Rogin, Josh (April 14, 2017) [February 6, 2014]. "State Dept Official Caught on Tape: 'Fuck the EU'". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  21. ^ "Weddings/Celebrations; Allison Clauss, Daniel Gati". New York Times. May 25, 2003. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017.
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Government offices
Preceded by Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
November 5, 1993 – May 31, 1997
Succeeded by