Vangala Ram is a Career Member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service (SFS), based now at the National Intelligence University, on Senior Detail from the State Department. He is a full-time faculty member of the Department of Transnational Issues at NIU. At NIU, Mr. Ram teaches a wide variety of graduate courses to students from across the intelligence community, including advanced intelligence analysis, globalization, the national-security decision-making process, Russia Seminar, Eurasia Seminar, Intelligence Issues in Europe and Engaging International Partners, among other graduate courses.
Mr. Ram has been in the U.S Foreign Service for around 25 years, serving in a wide variety of positions around the world. He was the director of Regional Security and Arms Transfers (RSAT) in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in Washington DC and has served as Press Attaché in both Riyadh and Amman. Mr. Ram was the director of the Amerika Haus in Cologne, Germany and has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in The Gambia. He was the Senior Civilian Representative (SCR) to Regional Command West (RC-West) in Herat, Afghanistan. Previous postings include deputy cultural attaché in Moscow and management officer in St. Petersburg, Russia. Mr. Ram did his consular rotation in Seoul, South Korea. He has had nine previous overseas tours in the Foreign Service.
Prior to the U.S. Foreign Service, Mr. Ram was a Military Intelligence (MI) officer in the United States Army. His tours included an airborne assignment at the First Special Operations Command, (Fourth Psychological Operations Group), Fort Bragg, NC as well as two tours in Germany and one at Fort Meade, MD. Mr. Ram Holds a BA from Bard College and Master's degrees from Boston University in International Relations (With Distinction) and from the National Defense University, Eisenhower School in National Security Resource Strategy (Distinguished Graduate).
