Tomáš Valášek

Tomáš Valášek has been appointed a Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to NATO as of April 15, 2013. Until recently, he worked as president of the Central European Policy Institute; an independent regional think-tank in Bratislava, Slovakia. From 2006 to 2012 he worked as director of foreign policy and defence at the Centre for European Reform in London. He has written extensively on European defence capabilities, budgets and collaboration; on transatlantic relations; common European foreign and security policy, and on defence industrial issues.

Previously, he served as policy director and head of the security and defence policy division at the Slovak Ministry of Defence. Before joining the Ministry, Mr. Valášek founded and directed the Brussels office of the World Security Institute, a Washington, DC-based independent defence and security think-tank (2002-2006). From 1996 to 2002 he worked as senior European analyst in CDI's Washington, DC office.

Mr. Valášek is the author of numerous articles appearing in newspapers and journals including the International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times. He advised the Slovak Defence and Foreign Ministers, the UK House of Lords, and the 'group of experts' on the new NATO Strategic Concept. He is an honorary citizen of the state of Georgia, USA.

Mr. Valášek holds an MA in international affairs from the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and a BA in journalism from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. He is a Slovak national and speaks fluent English, Slovak and Czech, along with conversational French.