Paul S. Berg

Paul S. Berg U.S. Foreign Service Officer Paul Berg, currently an independent foreign policy consultant, was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service from 1983 to 2018. He served as Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Rome from 2013-2017. Prior to that, he served as Senior Civilian Representative at the Regional Platform Southwest at Camp Leatherneck, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was promoted into the Senior Foreign Service (SFS) Fall 2011 following a tour as Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) of the U.S. Embassy in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, also accredited to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. From 2007 to April, 2009, he was Deputy Director of WHA/ PPC, the Western Hemisphere Bureau’s Office of Policy, Planning and Regional Coordination. From 2003-2006, he was Principal Officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Medan, which he reopened. During his three years in Medan, he was the U.S. government's point man on the insurgency in Aceh and oversaw USG response to the December 2004 Aceh tsunami and March 2005 Nias earthquake. In March, 2007 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued him a Distinguished Honor Award for his achievements in Medan, one of only three ever issued to officers below the Senior level. He has also received four separate individual Superior Honor Awards. Prior to his service in Indonesia, Mr. Berg served as Plan Colombia Director at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia 2001-2002. He was Deputy Chief of the Political Section at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam 1998-2001. Before that, he oversaw law enforcement and politicalmilitary affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City 1994-1997. He has also served in Rome, Brussels, Bombay and Washington DC. Mr. Berg’s languages are French, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesia and Pashto. Mr. Berg is a 2007 graduate of the National War College in Fort McNair, Washington DC, with a Masters in Strategic Studies. He also has a Certificate from the MIT Century XXI Seminar. He has Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University in the City of New York. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he was Acting Executive Director of International House in New York City, and before that was a local politician in Wisconsin, elected to the Dane County Board of Supervisors in 1977. He is active in the community of Hanover, Pennsylvania, where he lives, serving on the Board of the Rotary Club, and the Township of Berwick Planning Commission. He is also a Board Member of the Center for Foreign Affairs and Defense Policy. In his spare time, he likes to box and grapple, hunt, bike, run, scuba dive, mountain climb, golf, read, write, cook, and collect art