Matthew S. Klimow served his country with distinction for over 50 years as a soldier and diplomat. He was raised in the blue-collar town of Johnson City in upstate New York, where his mother was a town clerk and his father, a World War II veteran, worked in a factory for 40 years. He earned an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point where, as a Cadet, he excelled in athletics and was the captain of the West Point Marathon Team. Commissioned in the infantry upon his graduation in 1974, he went on to command infantry troops at every level from platoon to brigade.
In the fight to liberate Kuwait in 1991, his Army unit, part of the storied 2nd Armored Division’s “Tiger Brigade,” was attached to the to the United States Marine Corps’ 2nd Marine Division. In fighting to breach Iraqi minefields, he earned the Silver Star, the nation’s third highest award for gallantry in action.
He was later selected for a War College Fellowship at the Center for International Relations at Queens University, with a follow-on assignment in the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he traveled the world many times over as a military advisor to two successive Secretaries of State -- Warren Christopher and Madeline Albright. In this assignment the author was part of an interagency arms control team that successfully concluded the START-III treaty framework and the Conventional Forces Europe (CFE) treaty extension through intense negotiations with the Russian Federation. He participated in six presidential summits, advised the Secretary of State on NATO enlargement, and helped write the NATO-Russia Founding Act. His accomplishments led to his selection to command the 2,000 paratroopers of the 18th Airborne Corps’ Combat Support Brigade at Bragg, North Carolina from 1998-2000.
Following successful command, the author was assigned to the Pentagon and served as the Executive Assistant to General Richard B. Myers, both in his capacity as the Vice Chairman and later as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On September 11, 2001, as American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon, the author was on a secure line to the White House, simultaneously relaying information to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was out of the building. He remained in Pentagon’s National Military Command Center throughout 9/11, helping to coordinate our nation’s response to the terrorist attacks. In his final assignment while in uniform, the author served in the White House as a Special Advisor to the Vice President of the United States, charged with advising the Vice President on terrorist threats to the United States.
Retiring from the Army at the rank of Colonel in 2003, the author began a second career as a diplomat, initially serving as the Executive Director of the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the United States Department of State, the largest bureau in the Department. Considering his past work on NATO enlargement, the author was later selected to serve as a Deputy Assistant Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium. Charged with Headquarters Support and Transformation, he introduced policies to transform NATO’s policy making functions, and helped to oversee the planning and transition to the massive new NATO headquarters, at the time the largest public works project in Europe.
Returning to the State Department in 2015, the author served in succession as Senior Advisor to the Director General of the Foreign Service and Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Management. In 2019, he was nominated by the President to serve as the United States Ambassador to Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most enigmatic countries—a former Soviet Republic having long borders with Iran and Afghanistan, the world’s fourth largest proven natural gas reserves, and strong trading links to China. He was quickly confirmed by the Senate, sworn-in on June 13, 2019, and he presented his credentials to Turkmenistan’s President on June 26, 2019.
During his five years as Ambassador, the United States Embassy team was notably effective in advancing U.S. interests in the fight for influence in this key geopolitical region. The author is credited with strengthening bilateral relations in ways that were not thought possible upon his arrival in 2019, particularly in the areas of security cooperation, business and trade, cultural exchanges, and human rights.
A final chapter to the author’s career of service to his nation came in the spring of 2020. When the Inspector General of the Department of State was dismissed, the President asked the author to take a temporary leave of absence from his diplomatic post and appointed him to serve as the acting Inspector General during a time of intense Congressional scrutiny and media interest. He ultimately returned to Turkmenistan at the end of 2020, resuming has post as Ambassador until his retirement in July 2024.
Ambassador Klimow (Retired) earned a Batchelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was a Visiting Defense Fellow at the Center for International Relations at Queens University, and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration as well as a Master’s Degree in Military Art and Science. He serves on the Advisory Board for the Caspian Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and continues to write, lecture, and speak at a variety of venues about leadership in the pursuit of human excellence.
He and his wife of 45 years, Major (Retired) Edie Gunnels, reside in their mountain home near Monterey, Tennessee and are active in their community. They have one son, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and three beautiful grandchildren.
