He taught briefly at Duke and the University of the South and contributed to various professional journals including the American Political Science Review.

His overseas posts included Geneva, Bonn, Lagos, London, Pretoria and Addis Ababa.

He received two State Department Superior Honors for his contributions to diplomacy in Africa that led to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola in 1989 and the independence of Namibia in 1991.

He left Estonia in 1994 and became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs with particular responsibility for Bosnia.

On December 15, 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, posthumously, by President Clinton for Exceptional Service for his role in the downfall of the Mengistu regime in Ethiopia and the airlifting of more than 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.