Stephen Rademaker

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Stephen Rademaker was the Acting Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation within the State Department of the United States. The Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Nonproliferation acting under him is Andrew Semmel.

He is currently under investigation into allegations that India's votes at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2005 and 2006 were coerced by America. Stephen Rademaker, the former ranking official of the Bush administration, reportedly told an audience in February 2007 that coercion had been used to persuade India to vote against Iran. He has today been approached by investigators looking at into the situation surrounding India’s votes and whether other IAEA members were subject to similar coercion.

Mr Rademaker, who now works for the Washington lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, was the former Assistant Secretary for Non-proliferation and International Security at the U.S. State Department. Whilst giving a speech at a security think-tank in India on 15th February 2006 he reportedly said, referring to India’s changing attitude towards non-proliferation; "[t]he best illustration of this is the two votes India cast against Iran at the IAEA. I am the first person to admit that the votes were coerced."

His words were widely reported by journalists who were present and have not been refuted by any of those who attended the meeting including Mr Narendra Sisodia, head of Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses where the speech was made. Despite being pressed, the US State Department, the Indian Government and the IAEA have failed to confirm or deny the truth of what Mr Rademaker said.

The questions raise important issues about the independence of the IAEA and the legitimacy of Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council and the subsequent passing of Resolutions 1737 and 1747. It is not disputed that in 2005, the US and the UK concentrated their efforts in the Governors' Board of the IAEA to first condemn Iran for not meeting its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and then to refer Iran to the UN Security Council. In January 2006, Ambassador to India, David Mulford, openly warned that a deal giving India US nuclear technology could collapse if India did not back the UN motion against Iran.

[edit] Education

Rademaker attended the University of Virginia where he received a B.A. (1981), a J.D. (1984), and a M.A. in Foreign Affairs (1985). He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa during his time at the university.

[edit] Previous positions

Prior to his current position, he served in a variety of Chief Counsel positions within the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives beginning in 1993. He also served as General Counsel to the Peace Corps in the early 1990s. Under the first Bush administration, Rademaker served as legal adviser to the National Security Agency and as associate counsel to the President. During the late 1980s, he served in positions related to international trade and foreign affairs. Before these roles, he served as a law clerk to James L. Buckley, and as an associate in a private law firm in Washington, D.C..