Toby Trister Gati focuses on political, economic and trade developments in Russia, the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union, and Central and Eastern Europe. She also provides assessments of various politically sensitive regions of the world, as well as analyses of the workings of international political and economic institutions.
As special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia, Ukraine and the Eurasian States at the National Security Council in the White House in 1993, Mrs. Gati helped develop and implement U.S. policy towards Russia during the first Clinton administration. She was responsible for preparations for the April 1993 Vancouver Summit, passage of the first Clinton administration assistance package and the establishment of the U.S.-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technical Cooperation. She also worked closely with political leaders in the NIS.
Mrs. Gati served the president and the vice president as co-chair of the Policy Steering Group, the Clinton administration's chief policymaking body on all aspects of U.S.-Russia and U.S.-NIS relations. During her tenure, the NSC began to focus greater attention on the political and economic transformations underway in the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
As assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research (INR) from November 1993 to May 1997, Mrs. Gati provided the secretary of state with essential information on all key foreign policy questions. She was closely involved in decisions at the highest level, including the National Foreign Intelligence Board (NFIB), which reviews all national intelligence estimates before presentation to the president.
Mrs. Gati was awarded the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award and other high state awards. She is also the recipient of the 1997 Theodore Roosevelt Freedom Award from the Prairie Institute for Economic Growth and Freedom.
Before joining the government, Mrs. Gati served as senior vice president for policy studies at the United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) in New York City, where she directed the association's research and policy analysis on international political, economic and security issues, as well as on United Nations and multilateral affairs.
Mrs. Gati has lectured and published on U.S.-Russia relations, American foreign policy and the work of the United Nations and other international organizations. She has consulted with the Ford Foundation and private business about Russian foreign and economic policies and has appeared on major network news programs, as well as on CNN International's "Insight" and "Headline News," and National Public Radio and PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." She also has testified before the various national security committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Mrs. Gati also serves on the board of the U.S.-Russia Business Council (USRBC) and the United Nations Association of the U.S.A. (UNA-USA), as well as on the board of directors and International Advisory Council of the Moscow School of Political Studies.
Mrs. Gati received her B.A. from Pennsylvania State University. She received her M.A. in Russian language and literature, her M.I.A. in international affairs and a Harriman Institute Certificate in Russian studies from Columbia University. She is fluent in Russian.