Fireside Chat: Recent Developments in the U.S.-India Relationship

Kenneth I. Juster has over 40 years of experience as a senior business executive, senior government official, and senior law partner. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the Republic of India from November 2017 to January 2021. He led the third largest U.S. Mission in the world, with approximately 2,500 employees representing over 30 U.S. government departments, agencies, and offices. For his service, Juster received the highest honors of several U.S. government agencies, including the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award, the Defense Department’s Distinguished Public Service Award, the Director of National Intelligence’s Exceptional Service Award, and the Energy Department’s Excellence Award. Juster previously served from January to June 2017 as the Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. He was a senior member of both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Prior to that, Juster was a Partner and Managing Director, from 2010 to 2017, at the global investment firm Warburg Pincus, where he focused on a range of issues, including geopolitical risk, global public policy, and regulatory matters. From 2005 to 2010, Juster was Executive Vice President of Law, Policy, and Corporate Strategy at salesforce.com. He oversaw corporate development, legal affairs, global public policy, enterprise risk management, human resources, internal audit, worldwide real estate, and procurement. Juster served as U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce from 2001 to 2005, in charge of the Bureau of Industry and Security. In that capacity, he oversaw issues at the intersection of business and national security, including strategic trade controls, imports and foreign investments that affect U.S. security, and enforcement of anti-boycott laws. Juster co-founded and served as the U.S. Chair of the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group. He was also one of the key architects of the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership initiative between the United States and India, which provided the foundation for the historic civil nuclear agreement between the two countries. Upon completion of his term, Juster received the William C. Redfield Award, the Commerce Department’s highest honor. From 1992 to 1993, Juster served as the Counselor (Acting) of the U.S. Department of State, and from 1989 to 1992 as the Deputy and Senior Adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger. Juster was one of the key officials involved in establishing and managing U.S. assistance programs to Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Upon completion of his term, Juster received the Distinguished Service Award, the State Department’s highest honor. From 1981 to 1989 and 1993 to 2001, Juster practiced law at the firm Arnold & Porter, where he became a senior partner. His work involved international arbitration and litigation, corporate counseling, regulatory matters, and international trade and transactions. Juster holds a law degree from the Harvard Law School, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government (Phi Beta Kappa) from Harvard College.

Abraham D. Sofaer was appointed the first George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution in 1994. Named in honor of former US secretary of state George P. Shultz, the appointment is awarded to a senior scholar whose broad vision, knowledge, and skill will be brought to bear on the problems presented by a radically transformed global environment. Sofaer's work focuses on the power over war within the US government and on issues related to international law, terrorism, diplomacy, and national security. His most recent books are Taking on Iran: Strength, Diplomacy, and the Iranian Threat (Hoover Institution Press, 2013) and The Best Defense?: Legitimacy and Preventive Force (Hoover Institution Press, 2010). From 1985 to 1990, he served as a legal adviser to the US Department of State, where he resolved several interstate matters, including the dispute between Egypt and Israel over Taba, the claim against Iraq for its attack on the USS Stark, and the claims against Chile for the assassination of Orlando Letelier. He received the Distinguished Service Award in 1989, the highest state department award given to a non–civil servant. From 1979 to 1985, Sofaer served as a US district judge in the Southern District of New York. From 1969 to 1979, he was a professor of law at Columbia University School of Law and wrote War, Foreign Affairs, and Constitutional Power: The Origins. From 1967 to 1969, he was an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of New York, after clerking for Judge J. Skelly Wright on the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, and the Honorable William J. Brennan Jr. on the US Supreme Court. He practiced law at Hughes, Hubbard and Reed from 1990 to 1994. A veteran of the US Air Force, Sofaer received an LLB degree from New York University School of Law in 1965, where he was editor in chief of the law review. He holds a BA in history from Yeshiva College (1962). Sofaer is a founding trustee of the National Museum of Jazz in Harlem and a member of the board of the Koret Foundation. Sofaer was born and raised in Bombay, India until age fourteen, and is third generation descendant of Jewish Immigrants from Iraq.