Menu
Charles O. (Cob) Blaha retired from the State Department in 2023 after a 32-year career. Before retiring, he was Director of the Office of Security and Human Rights in the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from 2016 until 2023. From 2013 until 2016 he was Director of the Bureau's Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Prior to that, Mr. Blaha served in the Department's International Organizations Bureau's Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Office, and as Counselor for the Political and Specialized Agencies Section of the U.S. Mission to the UN in Geneva, where he worked primarily on issues related to the UN Human Rights Council.
Mr. Blaha is currently a Senior Advisor for DAWN. Since retiring, Mr. Blaha has also written and spoken extensively on issues relating to human rights, international humanitarian law, security assistance, and arms transfers. He has been featured in national and international media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, PBS News Hour, NPR's Morning Edition, the Associated Press, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Al Jazeera, and Pro Publica.
Mr. Blaha entered the Foreign Service in 1991. Overseas, in addition to Geneva, he has served as Political-Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Prague and as Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. He served two tours in Turkey, two tours at the U.S. Interests Section (now the U.S. Embassy) in Havana, and at the U.S. Embassy in Panama.
In Washington, Mr. Blaha served in the State Department's Executive Secretariat from 2001 until 2002, advancing travel and assigning and coordinating taskings for Secretary of State Colin Powell. He also served in the State Department's Western European Affairs Office from 2002 until 2003.
Before joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Blaha was a trial attorney with the Milwaukee Office of the Wisconsin State Public Defender for ten years. Mr. Blaha holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Duke University, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He speaks Spanish and Turkish.
Many authoritarian governments in the Middle East have emerged as key partners in Beijing's efforts to "Sinicize" Islam within China.
It's time for the United States to fundamentally reassess its military aid to Israel, and the recent war on Gaza...
American foreign policy – particularly as it relates to the Middle East – has unfortunately taken a back seat during...
We’re fighting for a ceasefire and accountability for Israeli and U.S. officials responsible for war crimes in Gaza.
DAWN is a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy, the rule of law, and human rights for all of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
