Dr. Lee Schwartz

As Geographer of the United States, Lee Schwartz holds the position of the Director of the Office of The Geographer and Global Issues in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Dr. Schwartz is the State Department’s 8th Geographer, a position that was established in 1921 and bears the statutory responsibility for providing guidance to federal agencies on international boundaries and sovereignty issues. He also oversees the Humanitarian Information Unit and represents the Department on the Climate Security Advisory Council. His work has focused on ethnic conflict, refugee flows, peacekeeping operations, strategic warning, sustainable development, food and water security, climate change, infectious diseases, human and wildlife trafficking, and conflict mitigation and response – with an emphasis on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing information coordination. Dr. Schwartz is a recipient of a 2018 Presidential Rank Award, won the State Department’s Warren Christopher Award for Outstanding Achievement in Global Affairs, and was a recipient of the Association of American Geographers’ Anderson Medal of Honor in Applied Geography. He was awarded the James Cullum Medal from the American Geographical Society. Lee earned his Ph.D. in geography from Columbia University and conducted his dissertation research as a Fulbright scholar in Moscow in 1981-82.