By Jason Sibert

Former diplomat Tom Countryman is coming to St. Louis to deliver a speech on the importance of diplomacy and arms control in today’s fractured world.

The Peace Economy Project will host a forum titled Diplomacy, Security, Treaties and Peace and Countryman will be the keynote speaker. He served the United States for 35 years in the State Department as a foreign-service officer. Countryman rose to Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation and was one of six State Department officials dismissed by President Donald Trump’s Administration in January of 2017. At the same time, he was scheduled to attend an international meeting on nuclear arms control.

Countryman currently serves the chairmen of the board of the Arms Control Association. He has a connection to the St. Louis region in being a graduate of Washington University. Since leaving the State Department, Countryman has been critical of the direction of the department under the Trump Administration. He has described the men and women of the State Department as “firm in their principles, steadfast in their ideals, and tireless in their determination to defend the Constitution.” The former diplomat will speak to the public and also meet with local high school and college students on careers in diplomacy and arms control.

The forum – free and open to the public – will start at 7 p.m. on Apr. 11 at the Unitarian Church on 5007 Waterman in the city of St. Louis.  The Peace Economy Project and Veterans for Peace will sponsor the forum.

Jason Sibert is executive director of the Peace Economy Project.