Justin Friedman is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center’s Nuclear Energy Policy Initiative. He is also founder and senior advisor of Friedman Global Strategies, a consulting firm dedicated to helping countries achieve their energy security objectives and supporting companies as they identify and secure international opportunities with a focus on nuclear energy development.
He is an expert in navigating the issues at the complex nexus of national security, energy security, civil nuclear energy, energy supply and delivery, and nonproliferation. He had a thirty-year diplomatic career with the US Department of State, including service as senior advisor for commercial competitiveness in nuclear energy, director of the Office of Export Control Cooperation, and special assistant for Caspian basin energy diplomacy. Friedman also previously served as deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, and political counselor at the US embassy in Ankara, Turkey. He has also held overseas assignments in Brunei, Croatia, Canada, and Ukraine. In Washington, he served as the director of the State Department’s Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts and on the Russia Desk.
Friedman received an MS in national security strategy from the National War College. He also holds an MA in international affairs from Columbia University and a BA in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is fluent in Turkish and Russian and proficient in Bulgarian and Croatian.