Richard Atwood Executive Vice President Brussels Please submit all media inquiries to PresidentsOffice@crisisgroup.org or call +1 212 813 0820 Crisis Group Role Richard Atwood is Crisis Group’s Executive Vice President, based in Brussels. Professional Background For several years, Richard was Crisis Group’s chief of policy, working with regional programs and other colleagues to develop and promote the organisation’s analysis and prescriptions. Prior to that, he was New York director, representing Crisis Group at the United Nations. He helped pioneer the organisation’s cross-regional work, notably on Islamist militancy. Before moving to New York, he spent five years as Crisis Group’s research director in Brussels. Before Crisis Group, Richard worked for some fifteen years across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Latin America for the UN and other organisations, with extended periods in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Nigeria, Kenya, Guatemala, Colombia and Peru. He has a Master’s Degree in public policy from Princeton University. In The News 20 Jun 2017 The U.S. is worried that a [French] Security Council resolution [on an African counter-terror force in the Sahel] might open the door to funding at a time when cutting back their UN funding is a priority. Bloomberg Richard Atwood Executive Vice President 8 Mar 2017 The us-and-them mentality [of the new UN counter-terrorism proposal means] the U.N. has been positioned even more forcefully on the government's side when it [is sometimes] already perceived as too close to the government. Foreign Policy Richard Atwood Executive Vice President 2 Feb 2017 The longer the war continues in Yemen, the stronger al-Qaeda is likely to get. PBS Newshour Richard Atwood Executive Vice President Latest Updates Podcast / Middle East & North Africa 20 May 2022 Shades of Jihad in Syria This week on Hold Your Fire! Richard Atwood talks to experts Dareen Khalifa and Jerome Drevon about ISIS in Syria after the death of its leader Abdullah Qardash, the precarious calm that prevails across the country and the evolution of al-Qaeda’s former affiliate in the north west, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Podcast / Africa 13 May 2022 A Perilous Free-for-all in the Eastern DR Congo? This week on Hold Your Fire! Richard Atwood talks to Great Lakes expert Nelleke van de Walle about the escalation of violence in the eastern DR Congo, as Uganda and Burundi deploy troops to fight rebels in the area and Rwanda threatens to do the same. Podcast / Asia 6 May 2022 Taliban Rule in Afghanistan This week on Hold Your Fire! Richard Atwood and Naz Modirzadeh talk to Afghanistan experts Graeme Smith and Ibraheem Bahiss — both back from a recent visit to Kabul — about life under Taliban rule, the Taliban government’s recent decision to keep girls’ secondary schools closed and Afghanistan’s relations with the outside world. Podcast / Europe & Central Asia 29 April 2022 Is the Danger of a NATO-Russia War Growing? This week on Hold Your Fire! Richard Atwood talks to Crisis Group expert Olga Oliker about Russia's latest offensive in Ukraine’s east and south, how Western capitals have responded and whether the risk of direct confrontation between NATO and Russia is growing. Podcast / Europe & Central Asia 22 April 2022 European Security and France’s Election in the Shadow of Russia’s War in Ukraine This week on Hold Your Fire! Richard Atwood talks to Crisis Group Trustee and distinguished French diplomat Gérard Araud about European security, transatlantic politics, the West’s relations with Moscow and France’s election, as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters a new phase. Load more