Ben Reames

Ben Reames is visiting from the U.S. State Department as the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Foreign Service Fellow for 2019-20. In his 13-year diplomatic career so far, he has been stationed in every continent, except for Europe. He was last a Special Assistant to Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale, the Department’s senior most career diplomat. Reames’ portfolio included India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the rest of South and Central Asia, as well as counterterrorism, diplomatic security, and hostage affairs. He has since been a program officer for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement in Mexico, a political officer in Afghanistan, deputy political counselor in Mozambique, and a political-military affairs officer in Iraq. Prior to government service, he consulted on Latin American issues and public security reform.

Reames’ interests include great power contests, enhancing the rule of law, countering instability, understanding state sovereignty in the context of cyber and hybrid threats, and exploring new methods of diplomatic engagement. Reames will next serve in Jakarta, near to where he started his diplomatic career in the Philippines. 

Reames earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University, a Masters in Public Policy from the Ford School at the University of Michigan, and a Bachelors in Social Science from the University of Michigan Honors College. While a graduate student, Reames contributed chapters to two books: Comparative Policing: The Struggle for Democratization (Sage Press, 2007) and Reforming the Administration of Justice in Mexico (University of Notre Dame Press, 2007).

Reames has received two Superior Honor Awards from the State Department, among multiple Meritorious awards. He was a Fulbright-Hays Scholar in Brazil in 2003. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

Education

• Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University
• Masters in Public Policy from the Ford School at the University of Michigan
• Bachelors in Social Science from the University of Michigan Honors College