Meet Thomas Niles, 1962 Alum

Thomas M.T. Niles is Vice President of the National Defense University. A career Foreign Service Officer, Ambassador Niles joined the Foreign Service in February 1962. He served successively in Belgrade (1963-65), in the Office of Soviet Union Affairs of the Department of State (1965-67), Moscow (1968-71), United States mission to NATO (1971-1973), and again in Moscow as Director of the Commercial Office from 1973 to 1976. In 1976-1977, he studied at the National War College. Returning to the Department of State, he served as Deputy Director of the office of UN Political Affairs (1977-79) and as Director of the Office of Central European Affairs (1979-1981). From 1981 to 1985, he served as a Deputy Assistant secretary in the Bureau of European Affairs. From 1985 to 1989, Mr. Niles served as Ambassador to Canada. In 1989, he was named Ambassador to the European Community and served in that position until August 1991. On October 2, 1991 he was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs. He served in that position until April 1, 1993. From October 1993 to October 1997, he served as Ambassador to Greece. In October 1997, he assumed his present position as Vice President of the National Defense University. 

Ambassador Niles was born in Lexington, Kentucky on September 22, 1939. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Harvard university in 1960 and a Master of Arts Degree from the University of Kentucky's Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce in 1962. Ambassador Niles speaks French, Russian, German and Serbo-Croatian. He is married to Carroll Ehringhaus of Charlotte, North Carolina. They have two children, John and Mary.