[1] He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a John Motley Morehead Scholarship and earned his Bachelor of Arts in economics.

He then served for 14 years as an expert on international religious freedom issues, while working on the staff of Senator Richard Lugar.

In 1998, Hanford was the chief architect of the bipartisan Congressional effort that created the US Government's permanent structures for advancing religious freedom around the world.

Ambassador Hanford was one of only four appointees at the Assistant Secretary level or above to serve in his position at the State Department through both terms of the Bush Administration.

Under Ambassador Hanford's leadership, the Office of International Religious Freedom more than quadrupled in size and greatly expanded its scope of operations and influence at the State Department.

[citation needed] Progress through intense diplomacy took place in numerous other nations as well, including China, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.