Strobe Talbott is president of The Brookings Institution and a towering figure in the US foreign-policy community. Before joining Brookings, in July 2002, he was founding director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. He served in the State Department from 1993 to 2001, first as ambassador-at-large and special adviser to the secretary of state for the new independent states of the former Soviet Union, then as deputy secretary of state for seven years.

Before entering the government, Talbott had worked for 21 years at Time magazine. He covered Eastern Europe, the State Department, and the White House, before becoming the Washington bureau chief, editor-at-large, and foreign affairs columnist. For his work, Talbott twice received the Edward Weintal Prize for distinguished diplomatic reporting.

Talbott has been a fellow of the Yale Corporation, a trustee of the Hotchkiss School and of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also has been director of the Council on Foreign Relations, of the North American Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission, and of the American Association of Rhodes Scholars. He was also a member of the participating faculty of the World Economic Forum and is currently a member of the Aspen Strategy Group. From 2007 to 2008, he served as a member of the National Commission on War Powers.

Talbott is the author of The Great Experiment: The Story of Ancient Empires, Modern States, and the Quest for a Global Nation, published in January 2008, combines historical and political analysis with personal reflection on efforts to forge a peaceful community of nations. His past books include: Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb; The Russia Hand; At the Highest Levels (with Michael Beschloss); The Master of the Game; Reagan and Gorbachev (with MichaelMandelbaum); Deadly Gambits; Reagan and the Russians; and Endgame. His essays and articles have been published in Foreign Affairs, New Yorker, The Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, and Washington Post.