Phillip McLean

A senior associate at CSIS and adjunct professor in the Elliott School at George Washington University, Phillip McLean served more than three decades in the U.S. Foreign Service with overseas assignments in Latin America and Europe. After retirement from government service in 1994, he was appointed assistant secretary for management at the Organization of American States (OAS) and served as an adviser to OAS secretary Cesar Gaviria until 1997. McLean's early Foreign Service postings were to the new capital Brasilia and the old capital Edinburgh. For a time, he specialized in Panama Canal negotiations and served in the U.S. embassy in Panama. Subsequently, he was involved in U.S. economic relations with Europe (coordinating approaches to trade, agriculture, and poorer countries). Thereafter he was consul in Milan, Italy. His first experience with the Andean countries was in Bolivia in the mid-1970s. In the mid-1980s, he led the Department of State's Office of Andean Affairs just as the United States intensified its counter-narcotics activities in the region. Later, he served in the U.S. embassy in Bogot, Colombia, and later still as deputy assistant secretary with responsibility for South America during a period of increased U.S. engagement, as the countries of the region moved toward greater democracy, economic liberalization, and responsible roles in international security matters. McLean is a graduate of the National War College and the Foreign Service Institute's intensive economic program. Educated by the Jesuits in his home city of Seattle, he later received a master's degree in Latin American studies from Indiana University. His languages are Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.