1. Introduction

As US ambassador to the European Union during 2014–2017, I had to deal with a number of critical European and transatlantic crises, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, allegations of US government data privacy infringements, deadly terrorist attacks in many European cities, mass migration into Europe that threatened to undermine the solidarity of the EU, a referendum in the UK on leaving the EU, frantic negotiations to keep Greece from leaving the Eurozone, intensive negotiations to replace a critical US–EU data privacy agreement, and an Ebola outbreak in West Africa. I was also tasked with the responsibility of promoting a US–EU free trade agreement. Although we failed in that objective to my great regret, the US and the EU successfully addressed the other challenges, as well as negotiated a landmark climate change agreement. These are some of the topics addressed in this book.