BRIAN STEIDLE
Brian Steidle grew up living around the world as the son of a naval officer, now retired Admiral. He graduated with a B.S. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1999 and received a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps as an infantry officer. He completed his service with the USMC at the end of 2003 as a Captain. In January 2004, he accepted a contract position with the Joint Military Commission in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan working on the North-South ceasefire. Within seven months he worked his way up from a Team Leader to the Senior Operations Officer. In September 2004, Brian was then invited to serve in Darfur as an unarmed military observer and one of only three U.S. representatives to the African Union monitoring the ceasefire.
After six months, Brian’s conscience would no longer allow him to stand by without taking further action, and he became convinced that he could be more effective by bringing the photographs and story of what he witnessed to the world.
Brian returned to the United States in early February 2005 and has since spoken at over 100 public awareness events across the country and has been interviewed by as many international and national media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, BBC, CBS Evening News, CNN, NPR, ABC Dateline and many others. He has met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, and U.S. Ambassadors to the UN. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and has spoken before the UN Human Rights Commission and the British House of Commons.
Brian remains an advisor to numerous NGOs regarding Darfur and is currently co-writing his memoirs, to be published in the spring by PublicAffairs Books.