Javier Solana is a former Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), European Union high representative for common foreign and security policy and Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. He began his long career in public service when he was elected to the Spanish Parliament in 1982.

He held a number of portfolios over the 13 years he served in the Spanish cabinet, including minister of culture and minister of education and science. In July 1992, Solana became Spain’s minister of foreign affairs, a post he held until December 1995, when he became NATO secretary general. At NATO, he is credited with bringing much-needed re-organization and revitalization to the organization’s military structure. After leaving NATO, he became the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union.

Solana also assumed a leadership role in world affairs as the EU’s de facto foreign minister. He spent six years as a Fulbright Scholar in the United States and received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Virginia.

Solana joined the Global Commission on Drug Policy in 2011.