Thomas F. Farr, an author and former U.S. diplomat, is vice chair of the board of directors for Christian Solidarity Worldwide-USA, an international NGO that promotes religious freedom for all people. This summer, Dr. Farr will assume the position of visiting professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown University, and senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. He is a contributing editor for The Review of Faith and International Affairs and serves on the expert committee for the Institute on Religion and Public Policy and the advisory committee of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Farr was the State Department's first director of the Office of International Religious Freedom. After a career of 21 years in the Foreign Service he left to write on religious liberty and U.S. national interests. He has published articles on that subject in First Things and The Review of Faith and International Affairs and has testified before the House International Relations Committee on U.S. international religious freedom policy. Farr is also the author of "Dignitatis Humanae and Religious Freedom in American Foreign Policy - A Practitioner's Perspective, " in After Forty Years: Vatican II's Diverse Legacy (Kenneth D. Whitehead, ed.). He is currently writing a book, World of Faith and Freedom: Why International Religious Liberty is Vital to American National Security (Oxford University Press).
A Ph.D. in history from the University of North Carolina, Dr. Farr served for seven years in the U.S. Army and has taught at both the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy. His early diplomatic career focused on strategic nuclear weapons policy, the Cold War and European politics, and his positions included deputy director for strategic arms control policy, State Department advisor to U.S.-Soviet arms control talks in Geneva, and senior intelligence analyst for NATO, Greece and Cyprus.
Dr. Farr is the recipient of the 2003 Jan Karski Wellspring of Freedom Award, presented by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy for contributions to international religious freedom. Farr is a Roman Catholic. He and his wife, Margaret, reside in Falls Church, Va. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.