About Matt Armstrong

Email: blog@mountainrunner.us

Mr. Matt Armstrong is presently writing a book on the origins and evolution of U.S. public diplomacy as ultimately manifested in the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948.  Previously, he was the Executive Director of the United States Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, the U.S. Government’s only body tasked with overseeing and promoting U.S. Government activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics.

Mr. Armstrong is an author and strategist on the issues that shape, empower, and limit U.S. public diplomacy and strategic communication.  He obtained a Master in Public Diplomacy and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California.  He also studied European security and the Middle East at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Mr. Armstrong is a Member of the Board of Directors of The Public Diplomacy Council, a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the National Press Club.  He is a Lecturer of Politics at Lake Forest College, taught graduate courses on public diplomacy at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism.  He has presented at the Naval Postgraduate School, National Defense University, National Intelligence University, the U.S. Army War College, Joint Special Operations University, NATO meetings, and in Beijing.

He is a former Ironman triathlete, has run dozens of marathons, several ultramarathons (50k trail), and countless ocean swim races up to 3 miles.