WASHINGTON (January 18, 2012) -- Former Deputy NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan Mark Jacobson, former EU special representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby, and former Washington Post national writer Laura Blumenfeld have joined the German Marshall Fund of the United States as senior fellows.

“In their own individual ways, Mark, Peter, and Laura add expertise and experience to GMF that will strengthen our existing work on global security and transatlantic geopolitics,” said GMF President Craig Kennedy.

Mark Jacobson, most recently the deputy NATO senior civilian representative (SCR) in Afghanistan, joins GMF’s Washington office as a senior fellow specializing in defense policy and emerging international security issues . Prior to his two-year tour in Afghanistan, Jacobson served as a professional staff member for the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services, specializing in committee oversight of, and investigations into, Department of Defense activities, programs, policies, and operations.  Earlier in his career, Jacobson served as a visiting scholar at the Mershon Center, and in several positions at the Office of the Secretary of Defense.  Jacobson’s military service includes the U.S. Army Reserve from 1993-2000, and since 2000 he has served in the U.S. Navy Reserve and has deployed to both Bosnia and Afghanistan in support of NATO operations.  Jacobson was one of the first finalists for the Partnership for Public Service’s Call to Service Award and is a recipient of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service and the Department of the Army Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

Jacobson earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in American history, his master’s degree from the Department of War Studies at King’s College in London, and his Ph.D. in military history and strategic studies from The Ohio State University. He has been published numerous times, is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has been a senior fellow for the Truman National Security Project since 2008.

Peter Semneby joins GMF’s Brussels office as a senior fellow to work on issues related to the Black Sea region, the South Caucasus, and Russia. Semneby served as EU special representative for the South Caucasus from 2006 to 2011, concentrating on the protracted conflicts, political reform, human rights issues, and crisis management. Previously, he was head of the Mission to Croatia for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) between 2002 and 2005, and head of the OSCE Mission to Latvia between 2000 and 2002. In Croatia, Semneby and his staff assisted the country in post-conflict rehabilitation and reconciliation. His work in Latvia focused on citizenship and language issues. He is currently on leave from the Swedish Foreign Service. While in the Swedish Foreign Ministry, he was responsible for European security and defense policy and also served in the Swedish embassies in Germany, Ukraine, and the USSR.

Semneby was educated at the Stockholm School of Economics, the University of Uppsala,

the University of Stockholm, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Apart from his native Swedish, he speaks English, Russian, German, and French, and has a working knowledge of Croatian and Serbian.

Laura Blumenfeld comes to GMF’s Washington office as a senior fellow after a long stint at The Washington Post and will be focusing on the Middle East and security. At The Washington Post, Blumenfeld covered presidential politics, the Middle East, national security issues, and contributed to a regular column for the Post’s Federal Page titled "Off Camera: The Private Side of Public Lives." Blumenfeld is a frequent lecturer on counter-terrorism and the Middle East, appearing on Charlie Rose, Good Morning America, Prime Time Live, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Today Show, CNN, Fox News, and Oprah.  She is also a New York Times best-selling author for her book, Revenge: A Story of Hope, which has been translated into nine languages. She is currently writing a book set in England and France during World War II.

Blumenfeld earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from Harvard College and holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, which she attended as a Mort Zuckerman Future World Leaders Fellow. Upon graduation, Blumenfeld moved to the Palestinian town of Tira to work as a community organizer for Interns for Peace, where she negotiated exchange visits between Palestinian children and their Jewish neighbors.

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The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a non-partisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting better understanding and cooperation between North America and Europe on transatlantic and global issues.

GMF does this by supporting individuals and institutions working in the transatlantic sphere, by convening leaders and members of the policy and business communities, by contributing research and analysis on transatlantic topics, and by providing exchange opportunities to foster renewed commitment to the transatlantic relationship. In addition, GMF supports a number of initiatives to strengthen democracies.

Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, GMF has seven offices in Europe: Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, Ankara, Bucharest, and Warsaw. GMF also has smaller representations in Bratislava, Turin, and Stockholm.