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Suzanne DiMaggio
Senior Fellow, American Statecraft Program

about

Suzanne DiMaggio is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she focuses on U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East and Asia. She is one of the foremost experts and practitioners of diplomatic dialogues with countries that have limited or no official relations with the United States, especially Iran and North Korea. For over two decades, she has led Track 1.5 and Track 2 conversations to help policymakers identify pathways for diplomatic progress on a range of issues, including regional security, nuclear nonproliferation, conflict prevention and resolution, crisis management, confidence building and negotiation, and bilateral relations. Her research and work draw on an approach to unofficial engagement she has been developing since the late 1990s, which began with a focus on U.S. relations with China, Russia, and Japan, and later expanded to Iran, Myanmar/Burma, and North Korea.

She directs Carnegie’s U.S.-Iran Initiative, which is carried out through a combination of policy dialogue and scholarly research with the aim of exploring possible grounds for constructive diplomatic engagement and the development of mutually acceptable strategies for managing a range of contentious issues. The initiative’s centerpiece is a long-running dialogue that she launched in 2002, which is often cited as a model for how to conduct informal diplomacy effectively and creatively. These efforts helped to establish a foundational basis for the secret talks between Iran and the Obama administration that led to the 2015 landmark comprehensive nuclear agreement. They also contributed to a de-escalation in tensions following the killing by the U.S. of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iranian retaliatory strikes on Al Asad Airbase in Iraq in January 2020.

Her work on North Korea included an unofficial Track 1.5 dialogue process that transitioned to the first official diplomatic discussions between the Trump administration and North Korean government in 2017. In 2011, she facilitated talks that brought together senior officials from Myanmar and the U.S. to exchange views on the re-establishment of relations following the transition of the Myanmar’s government.

Before joining Carnegie, DiMaggio was a senior fellow at New America (2014-2018), where she directed several high-level policy dialogues, including with Iran, North Korea, and China. Prior to that, she was the vice president of global policy programs at the Asia Society (2007-2014), where she set the strategic direction for moving the Society’s work in the policy arena from a public program-focused forum to a global think tank aimed at addressing the most critical challenges facing the United States and Asia. As the vice president of policy programs at the United Nations Association of the USA (1998-2007), she directed programs that advanced multilateral approaches to transnational challenges and advocated in support of principled U.S. international engagement. She also served as a member of the Secretariat responsible for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s contribution to the Dialogue among Civilizations. Before joining UNA-USA, she was a program officer at the United Nations University (1993-1998), a research institute that links the UN system with international academic and policy communities. First based in Tokyo, Japan, and later at UN headquarters in New York, her work at UNU focused on international security and development issues. From 2000-2007, she was an adjunct professor at the School of Diplomacy & International Relations at Seton Hall University, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses on the United Nations, multilateral diplomacy, and sustainable development.

DiMaggio is a director at the Iran Project, an advisory board member of Foreign Policy for America, the Vienna-based Open Nuclear Network, and the National Committee on North Korea, and a co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, where she served as the inaugural board chair. She holds a BA from New York University and an MA from City College of New York (CUNY). She is a frequent commentator in the news media and her writings have appeared in national and international press outlets. She resides in NYC’s Greenwich Village with her husband, jazz bassist and composer Ben Allison, and daughter.

education
B.A., New York University, M.A., City College of New York (CUNY)

All work from Suzanne DiMaggio

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8 Results
event
New Voices: 2023 Conference on Diversity in Nuclear Policy
July 13, 2023

Rising nuclear dangers demand the recruitment of new and diverse voices to the nuclear policy field. This one-day, interactive event for interns, students, and young professionals will provide opportunities for networking, mentorship, and substantive nuclear policy discussions with guest speakers.

  • +7
  • Naoko Aoki
  • Frank Aum
  • Suzanne DiMaggio
  • Nola Haynes
  • Bonnie Jenkins
  • Nomsa Ndongwe
  • Luis Rodriguez
  • Terrell Starr
  • Pranay Vaddi
  • Reja Younis
In The Media
in the media
The Latest Effort to Revive the Iran Nuclear Deal

New developments emerged this week in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran over reviving the nuclear weapons agreement abandoned by the Trump administration.

· September 3, 2022
event
Great Power Challenges to the Transatlantic Alliance: Reinventing Leadership for a Stable Future
April 16, 2021

Join us for a conversation featuring Vicki Birchfield, Erik Brattberg, Philip Breedlove, and Suzanne DiMaggio in conversation with Suzanne Kelly, with special remarks by Sam Nunn on on the path forward for the transatlantic alliance.

  • +2
In The Media
in the media
Vienna Could Be a Small Step Toward Bigger Places if US-Iran Take Advantage of It

The pursuit of a strategic opening with Iran that begins with the reconstitution of the JCPOA offers a sound way to address the damage caused by Trump’s failed maximum pressure policies, pause hostilities while restarting talks, and set a foundation for more expansive U.S.-Iran dialogue on a range of issues.

· April 5, 2021
event
Carnegie Connects: What Will Biden Do About North Korea?
February 17, 2021

Three veteran analysts sit down with Aaron David Miller to discuss the complicated relationship between the United States and North Korea.

  • +1
In The Media
in the media
U.S.-North Korea Delegations Expected To Hold Talks In Washington

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, in Washington in what was reportedly a meeting to firm up about a second summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

· January 18, 2019
event
How to Talk to North Korea
May 14, 2018

As a possible Trump-Kim summit draws closer, join Carnegie for a conversation about what negotiating with North Korea actually entails. Previous U.S. negotiators will talk about what lessons have been learned in previous rounds of talks, and what the United States should know going forward. The New York Times’ Mark Landler will moderate.

  • +2
event
U.S.-Myanmar Relations: The Significance of Obama’s Visit
November 18, 2014

As President Obama travels to Myanmar for the East Asia Summit and U.S.-ASEAN Summit on November 12, pressure on the Myanmar government is mounting to revise its pro-military constitution and enact real reform.