Frank Wisner II

Frank Wisner II
Born	Frank George Wisner II 1938-07-02 New York City
Alma mater	Princeton University
Parents	Frank Wisner
Children	4
Spouse	Christine de Ganay
Member of	Council on Foreign Relations/Members 3, Refugees International/Board, Squire Patton Boggs, The American Academy in Berlin/Distinguished Visitors
United States Ambassador to India In office June 9, 1994 - July 12, 1997  Under Secretary of Defense for Policy  In office July 6, 1993 - June 9, 1994 Succeeded by Walter Slocombe  Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs In office 1992 - 1993  Acting United States Secretary of State  In office January 20, 1993 Preceded by Lawrence Eagleburger, Frank Wisner II, Arnold Kanter Succeeded by Warren Christopher, Frank Wisner II, Arnold Kanter  United States Ambassador to the Philippines In office August 16, 1991 - June 10, 1992  United States Ambassador to Egypt In office August 18, 1986 - June 6, 1991  United States Ambassador to Zambia In office August 2, 1979 - April 19, 1982

Frank Wisner II is a former United States Secretary of State.

Background

Frank Wisner II was born to Frank Wisner, founder of the Georgetown Set.

Career

Beatrice Edwards of the Government Accountability Project painted the following unflattering picture of Wisner's career in February 2011:

"As Ambassador to Egypt, Wisner became close friends with Shafik Gabr, the billionaire Chairman of ARTOC investments who partnered with Viktor Kozeny, a.k.a. “The Pirate of Prague.” Kozeny earned his moniker for ripping off the population of the Czech Republic with bogus privatization schemes in the early 1990s, netting roughly $1 billion for himself and his closest cronies. Gabr made a fortune with Kozeny in these endeavors.

While posted to the Philippines (1991-92), Wisner backed Enron’s negotiating position with the government for contracts to manage two power plants at Subic Bay. When he left his post in 1992, Enron had won the deal and took over the plants in early 1993. From there, the Ambassador took a short break and then moved on to India, where he secured additional lucrative deals for Enron. According to Vijay Prashad, in his book Fat Cats and Running Dogs, Wisner went so far as to boycott the "India Power '96” energy summit, although he was scheduled to deliver a speech there in order to pressure the Indian government to come through for Enron. After it seemed that Enron's place was secure there, Wisner left India in 1997 and joined the board of an Enron subsidiary.

Because board membership is not typically a full-time job, Wisner was also at the time the Vice Chairman for External Affairs at AIG. Among other accomplishments, he was largely responsible for pushing the Indian government in the 2000s to open the national insurance sector to foreign investment (i.e., AIG).

While at AIG, Wisner got in touch with his old friend Gabr – one of the Egyptian ‘businessmen’ surely booking flights for himself and his family from Cairo to somewhere else this morning (if he’s not gone already). He asked Gabr to vet an AIG/Kozeny investment in Azerbaijan, in the hopes that the corrupt business/political environment there would provide a tenfold return on a $25 million investment. AIG, with Gabr’s advice, made the investment, but, so far as we know, the windfall was not forthcoming. Wisner left AIG in 2009, after the meltdown. Presumably, he’s no longer working for Enron either."

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1986	25 April 1986	27 April 1986	Scotland Gleneagles Hotel	The 34th Bilderberg, 109 participants
Bilderberg/1994	2 June 1994	5 June 1994	Finland Helsinki	The 42nd Bilderberg, in Helsinki.
Brussels Forum/2008			Belgium Brussels	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA and NATO-close German Marshall Fund.
Munich Security Conference/2011	4 February 2011	6 February 2011	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 47th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2013	1 February 2013	3 February 2013	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 49th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2014	31 January 2014	2 February 2014	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 50th Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2015	6 February 2015	8 February 2015	Germany Munich Bavaria	"400 high-ranking decision-makers in international politics, including some 20 heads of state and government as well as more than 60 foreign and defence ministers, met in Munich to discuss current crises and conflicts."
Munich Security Conference/2017	17 February 2017	19 February 2017	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 53rd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2018	12 February 2018	14 February 2018	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 54th Munich Security Conference
Operation Dark Winter	22 June 2001	23 June 2001	Washington DC Andrews Air Force Base	An exercise where senior former officials would respond to a bioterrorist induced national security crisis. Uncannily predicted the 2001 anthrax attacks and other narratives. Held June 2001.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.