Amb. Daniel Shields, “The Diplomatic Instrument of Power in the Indo-Pacific Region: A Former Ambassador’s Perspective.”

Amb. Daniel Shields, “The Diplomatic Instrument of Power in the Indo-Pacific Region: A Former Ambassador’s Perspective.”

This registration is for a hybrid event with both a ticketed reception (at 231 Montgomery St) and a free Webinar via Zoom. You may register for either the in-person event or the Zoom only.

For Zoom only, login from 5:45 pm this time since the presentation will not begin till 6:15 pm Central. We will shut down your microphone once the presentation begins, but you may ask questions from the Chat function.

We are reverting to our usual timing for the in-person event in the Whitley building of Troy University Montgomery. From 5:30-6:15pm Central there will be a reception and social time, with presentation at about 6:15 pm followed by question time and discussion, till about 7:30 pm Central.

Ambassador (Ret.) Daniel Shields consults, lectures, teaches courses, and conducts simulations relating to diplomacy and U.S.-Asia relations.  

From 2015-18, while on detail from the U.S. State Department as the Diplomatic Advisor to the Commandant at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he helped educate future strategic leaders on how to integrate the diplomatic, informational, military, and economic (DIME) instruments of power to achieve national security objectives.  

He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Brunei from 2011-14, handling sensitive South China Sea-related issues in connection with Brunei’s hosting in 2013 of the various Summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).  He led two other U.S. diplomatic Missions in Southeast Asia as Chargé d’Affaires (acting Ambassador.) 

In response to an urgent request from the State Department, he temporarily left the Army War College for six months in 2017 to serve as the Chargé at the U.S. Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta, traveling to Manila to support participation by the President and Cabinet Secretaries in the ASEAN-related Summits. His other Chargé duty was for 15 months, mainly in 2009, when he led Embassy Singapore in supporting then-President Obama’s participation in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings.  

His early to mid-career assignments were mainly in Japan and China, including as Political Minister Counselor at Embassy Beijing from 2004-07.  He speaks Japanese and Chinese.  His first tour in the Foreign Service was as a Vice Consul at Embassy Manila from 1985-87, where he witnessed firsthand and reported on the People Power demonstrations and the fall of the Marcos regime.