Steven Pifer

Ambassador Steven Pifer is an affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University and a nonresident senior fellow with the Brookings Institution. His research and writing focus on nuclear arms control, Ukraine, Russia and European security issues.

From 2008 to 2017, Pifer was a fellow, then a senior fellow with the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe and also directed the Brookings Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative. 

A retired U.S. Foreign Service officer, Pifer’s more than 25 years with the Department of State focused on relations with the former Soviet Union and Europe, as well as arms control and security issues. He served as a deputy assistant secretary with responsibilities for Russia and Ukraine, ambassador to Ukraine, and special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council.  He also served at the U.S. embassies in Warsaw, Moscow and London, and with the U.S. delegation to the negotiation on intermediate-range nuclear forces in Geneva.

Ambassador Pifer is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Last updated: 2021