Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei (Arabic: محمد مصطفى البرادعي, romanized: Muḥammad Muṣṭafá al-Barādaʿī, Egyptian Arabic: [mæˈħæmːæd mosˈtˤɑfɑ (ʔe)lbæˈɾædʕi]; born 17 June 1942) is an Egyptian lawyer, diplomat, and politician who served as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1997 to 2009 and as interim vice president of Egypt in 2013. As Director General of the IAEA, ElBaradei oversaw the agency during inspections in Iraq preceding the 2003 invasion of Iraq and disputes over the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea. He and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way". After leaving the IAEA, ElBaradei founded the National Association for Change and became a prominent opposition figure during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, ElBaradei was appointed vice president but resigned in protest over the Rabaa massacre.
Education and early career ElBaradei was born and raised in Giza Governorate, Greater Cairo, Egypt. He was one of five children of Mostafa ElBaradei, an attorney who headed the Egyptian Bar Association. ElBaradei's father was also a supporter of democratic rights in Egypt, supporting a free press and an independent judiciary. Following in the footsteps of his father, Mostafa, ElBaradei also studied law. He earned a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Cairo in 1962, a master's degree LLM in 1971 and a doctorate degree JSD in international law in 1974 from the New York University School of Law. His thesis was titled "The right of passage through straits in time of peace". ElBaradei's diplomatic career began in 1964 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served in the Permanent Missions of Egypt to the UN in New York and in Geneva, in charge of political, legal, and arms-control issues. From 1974 to 1978, he was a special assistant to the foreign minister. In 1980, he became a senior fellow in charge of the International Law Program at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). From 1981 to 1987, he was also an adjunct professor of international law at the New York University School of Law. In 1984, ElBaradei became a senior staff member of the IAEA Secretariat, serving as the agency's legal adviser (1984 to 1993) and Assistant Director General for External Relations (1993 to 1997). ElBaradei is currently a member of both the International Law Association (ILA) and the American Society of International Law (ASIL).
Public career as IAEA Director General (1997–2009) ElBaradei's tenure has been marked by high-profile, non-proliferation issues, which include the inspections in Iraq preceding the March 2003 invasion, and tensions over the nuclear program of Iran. ElBaradei began to serve as Director General of the IAEA, which is based in Vienna, on 1 December 1997, succeeding Hans Blix of Sweden. The agency gradually came to take an active role in attempts to prevent nuclear proliferation, with its focus first centred on Iraq and Sudan, in which cases the agency claimed success, and later also on North Korea and Iran. ElBaradei was re-elected for two more four-year terms in 2001 and, despite opposition from the United States, to a third term in 2005. In late August 2007, ElBaradei finalized a secret "divisive and risky" nuclear agreement with Iran. Diplomats from the U.S., France, Britain, and Germany filed a formal protest. In 2009 ElBaradei stated that Iran's nuclear threat had been exaggerated and there was no evidence the country was close to building a nuclear weapon. He also rejected accusations that he had concealed Iran's nuclear ambitions. His third and last term ended in November 2009. ElBaradei faced criticism from Washington, Israel, London, Berlin, and Paris, where officials saw his actions as attempts to block their efforts to intensify pressure on Iran regarding its nuclear program.
First term as Director General After being appointed by the IAEA General Conference in 1997, ElBaradei said in his speech that, "for international organizations to enjoy the confidence and support of their members, they have to be responsive to [members'] needs; show concrete achievements; conduct their activities in a cost-effective manner; and respect a process of equitable representation, transparency, and open dialogue." Just a couple of months before ElBaradei took office, the Model Additional Protocol was adopted, creating a new environment for IAEA verification by giving it greater authority to look for undeclared nuclear activities. When in office, ElBaradei launched a program to establish "integrated safeguards" combining the IAEA's comprehensive safeguard agreements with the newly adopted Additional Protocol. In his statement to the General Conference in 1998, he called upon all states to conclude the Additional Protocol: "One of the main purposes of the strengthened-safeguards system can be better achieved with global adherence. I would, therefore, urge all states with outstanding-safeguards agreements to conclude them, and I would also urge all states to accelerate their consideration of the Model Additional Protocol and enter into consultations with the Agency at the earliest possible opportunity. We should work together to ensure that, by the year 2000, all states [will] have concluded outstanding-safeguards agreements and also the Additional Protocol." ElBaradei repeated this call through his years as the Director General of the IAEA. In November 2009, 93 countries had Additional Protocols in force. ElBaradei's first term ended in November 2001, just two months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. These attacks made clear that the more is needed to be done to protect nuclear material and installations from theft or a terrorist attack. Consequently, ElBaradei established a nuclear security program to combat the risk of nuclear terrorism by assisting member states to strengthen the protection of their nuclear and radioactive material and installations, the Nuclear Security Fund Archived 11 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
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