Statement About Robert E. Hunter, Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO
For Release
Friday
January 23, 2026
Robert E. Hunter
The RAND Corporation notes with deep regret the death of Robert E. Hunter, 85, whose extensive public service career included serving as U.S. ambassador to NATO from 1993 to 1998. He was a senior adviser at RAND from 1998 to 2011.
“For generations, Robert Hunter distinguished himself as a foreign policy adviser at the highest levels of government,” said Jason Matheny, president and chief executive officer of RAND. “His deep experience making policy enriched both RAND and his research, which was aimed at making the world a more peaceful and secure place.”
As ambassador to NATO under President Clinton, Hunter became known as a principal architect of the post-Cold War “New NATO” and for leading the council in implementing decisions of the 1994 and 1997 NATO summits. In the Clinton era, Hunter also was the U.S. representative to the Western European Union, which was a treaty-based international organization.
During the Carter administration, Hunter served on the National Security Council as director of West European affairs in the late 1970s and then as director of Middle East affairs. He was a member of the U.S. negotiating team for talks on the West Bank and Gaza and directed the 1978 NATO Summit. Hunter was also an author of the Carter Doctrine for the Persian Gulf, which stated the United States would use military force, if necessary, to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf.
At RAND, Hunter's work mainly focused on national security and NATO-related analysis. NATO had been an interest of his since at least the 1960s, when he wrote his doctoral thesis on the origins of the alliance.
Robert Edwards Hunter was born in 1940 in Cambridge, Mass. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1962 from Wesleyan University and attended the London School of Economics as a Fulbright Scholar, earning a doctorate in international relations in 1969.
In 1964 and 1965, Hunter worked for the Johnson administration as a deputy assistant to the President in the area of health, education and welfare. After receiving his doctorate, Hunter joined the nascent Overseas Development Council in Washington, D.C. More recently, Hunter had served from 2010 to 2012 as director of the Center for Transatlantic Security Studies at National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
The Pentagon twice awarded Hunter its highest civilian honor, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Service.
