Dinner Series: U.S. Government Response Coordination and COVID-19 with Rick Waters

John “Rick” Waters is Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Prior to assuming this position, Rick served as Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, where he worked on a range of bilateral U.S.-China issues as well as China’s regional and global role. In an earlier tour in Beijing from 1998- 2001, Rick worked on economic and social stability issues and served as staff aide to Amb. Joseph Prueher during the 2001 Hainan Island crisis. A career Foreign Service Officer, Rick previously served as Political Counselor and Deputy Counselor at U.S. Embassy Islamabad advising the

Ambassador and Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan on Pakistani domestic and external politics, Indo-Pakistani relations, and the intra-Afghan reconciliation process. From 2009 to 2012, he served as the Political Counselor at U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem where he was responsible for diplomatic reporting on Palestinian internal developments, Jerusalem municipal issues, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a $250 million regional refugee program. Rick has also served as the Director for Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian Affairs for the National Security Council, Deputy Director of the Office of Israeli and Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and Senior Political Officer in the Office of Israeli and Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.