James V. Kimsey Former AOL Chief Seeks to Fix Washington, World by John Shaw James V. Kimsey is a successful businessman who has expansive goals for Washington, D.C., and the world that he outlines in a soft, steely way. The founding chief executive officer of America Online and now its chairman emeritus, Kimsey wants to help Washington become a luminous global capital, encourage the United States to fashion more effective foreign policies, and do his part to confront some of the worldís most vexing problems, such as stabilizing Iraq, aiding refugees, identifying missing persons, and curtailing the illegal drug trade. In an interview in his spectacular office just a block away from the White House, Kimsey said American business leaders should do more to help their communities and their country. ìI think there is a need for independent businessmen who donít have an ax to grind to say what they think. Their comments wouldnít be based on ideology or anything other than what is best for the country,î he said. Calm, cool and confident with blazing blue eyes and a gleaming smile, Kimsey is a throwback to an earli er time when corporate leaders devoted themselves to community projects and civic affairs. Kimsey oversees a major foundation, manages an array of business interests, sits on a number of boards of directors, and chairs Refugees International, the International Commission on Missing Persons and the Washington Opera. Tightly scheduled and in heavy demand, Kimsey is not the type to just show up for meetings and sit in the back of the room. ìI take my commitments seriously. I donít want to be associated with anything that isnít a success,î he said. ìIf things start to go wrong, I get very energized and try to figure out how to solve the problems. If something becomes a success, I try to figure out how to get out of it. And if it really becomes successful, I get bored. I get to feel that my work is done. I would much rather be involved in something that is a challenge.î Kimsey, 66, has taken on a lot of challenges over the years, and he usually comes out ahead. The oldest of five children in an Irish Catholic family, Kimsey was born in Washington and grew up in Arlington, Va. He attended Gonzaga High School, studied for a year at Georgetown University, and then attended and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Kimsey was drawn to the discipline and rigor of West Point and said his time there has profoundly shaped his view of the world and his work. After graduation, Kimsey served as an airborne ranger in the Army. He participated in the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965 and then served two tours of duty in Vietnam. During his first tour in Vietnam from 1965 to 1966, Kimsey commanded a unit near the village of Duc Pho in Quang Ngai province. As a tribute to one of his predecessors who was killed in combat there, Kimsey supervised the construction and operation of an orphanage that he has continued to support for more than 30 years. In his second Vietnam tour, which ended in 1969, Kimsey served as assistant to the commanding general of special operations and was involved in what he calls ìsneaky Pete stuff.î He left the military in 1969 but continues to be interested in national security issues. Returning to Washington, Kimsey launched a successful business career with shrewd investments in restaurants, financial services companies, information technology and real estate. He helped found Quantum Computer Services in 1985. Five years later, the firm was renamed America Online, eventually becoming the leading independent provider of interactive online services to consumers. AOL is the largest company ever started in the Washington area. Kimsey ran AOL for a decade as president and CEO, winning praise for his tough, honest management and his ability to respond to a seemingly endless barrage of challenges and opportunities. He turned over the companyís operations in 1996 to Steve Case. ìIn business, itís important to be smart, creative, persistent, to work hard. But itís even more important to be lucky. Iíve been very lucky,î Kimsey said. ìAOL has been very, very good to me.î He became AOLís chairman emeritus in 1996 and turned to fresh challenges in business, philanthropy and personal diplomacy. He created the Kimsey Foundation in 1997, a large and influential organization in Washington. The foundation provides grants to improve education, neighborhoods and communities in the city. One of its central goals is to help Washingtonís disadvantaged children through educational and technology programs. Kimsey wants Washington to become a world-class cityóculturally, educationally and even athletically. Among his many civic projects, Kimsey is trying to bring a professional baseball team to the city. ìWashington ought to be the Athens of Pericles, and the fact that it is not bothers me. To try to make it so is a worthy pursuit,î he said. Kimsey is also active in a number of international projects. He chairs the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), succeeding former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole. The group was established in 1996 by the G-7 Summit in Lyon, France, to address the cases of about 40,000 people who remain missing in the Balkans because of wars during the 1990s. The group is recognized as the global leader in DNA-assisted identification, employing the worldís foremost experts in forensic science. The ICMP has developed a new DNA profiling technique, allowing nuclear DNA to be extracted from the smallest bone or tissue fragment for the first time. In addition, it has trained scientists from all ethnic groups in the region and has built and renovated five DNA labs throughout the Balkans. Going forward, Kimsey wants the ICMP to encourage governments to release more information on missing persons and to assist in building regional capacity to accelerate the recovery and identification of human remains using state-of-the-art DNA technology. Kimsey acknowledges that this is hard, often grim, work, but he believes it is important to the Balkans and especially to the thousands of families that continue to agonize over the fates of their loved ones. ìThese families want closure. Itís extraordinary how poignant this work is,î he said. ìIt does provide a catalyst for a healing process. I appreciate the emotional need for closure.î Kimsey accepted the chairmanship of Refugees International in 1999, replacing Richard C. Holbrooke when he became the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Refugees International (RI) was created in 1979 to alert the world to refugee crises in Southeast Asia, but it has steadily expanded its scope. RI was the first advocacy group on the ground on the Iraq-Turkey border in 1991 to call the worldís attention to the plight of Kurds fleeing from Saddam Hussein. Several years later, it issued compelling reports on the exodus of nearly 2 million Rwandans to Zaireónow Congo and Tanzaniaówhich was one of the most rapid refugee flows in history. In subsequent years, it has implored the world to respond to humanitarian problems in Albania, Bosnia, Cambodia, Eritrea, the Great Lakes region of Africa, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Sierra Leone. Wearing his hats as chairman of both RI and the ICMP, Kimsey recently traveled to Iraq to assess humanitarian needs, offer assistance in identifying remains found in mass graves, and demonstrate the resolve of the American business community to help rebuild the war-torn nation. ìIn Baghdad, weíre trying to help in very practical ways. Weíre nonpartisan. We have no axes to grind. Weíre trying to focus on results,î he said. In addition to his trip to Iraq, Kimsey has traveled to Colombia to meet with leaders from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, who were interested in talking to an American business leader with sterling military credentials. The meetings were hard, frustrating, and achieved only modest results, but they alerted Kimsey to the stakes involved in Colombiaís ferocious civil war. ìWe have a very serious regional problem and the epicenter is Colombia. Itís a huge issue. We need to be much more engaged,î Kimsey said. ìIíve told our secretary of state that we really have to focus on Colombia. Itís a real and present danger. We need to multi-task. Colombia is a cancer that will wash up on our doorstep. This is no Vietnam. We have to put assets on the ground,î he added. Kimsey said U.S. foreign policy has lacked coherence or consistency for some time, faulting both Republican and Democratic administrations. ìWith the war in Iraq, weíve done something thatís caused a tectonic s hift in the world. Weíll be in real trouble if we donít follow this up by pushing an agreement in the Middle East and developing a long-term foreign policy that persuades more of the world to like us and listen to us,î he said. A U.S. foreign policy that is both subtle and realistic is sorely needed, Kimsey said. ìWe should be much more chess player-like in our view of the world. We should stop thinking tactically and reactively and develop broad, strategic plans. Americans think very near term. We donít have long-range goals,î he said. ìGeorge Marshall had a strategy after World War II. It was well thought out. Weíre in a war now, and we really havenít thought our way through itóand we need to.î One area that exemplifies Americaís struggle to develop a sound policy is Cuba, Kimsey said, declaring that U.S. domestic politics and ideology have overwhelmed reality for four decades. Kimsey has visited Cuba several times and has had two long dinners with Fidel Castro. ìIn his own way, Castro is an impressive guy. He knows what he wants, and one thing he wants is for us to keep this stupid embargo going. I know that he doesnít want us to lift the embargo. I pushed him real hard and itís clear he doesnít want it lifted,î Kimsey said. ìI understand the domestic politics of it for us with Florida and all. But we need some adult supervision on our Cuba policy. ìWe need to stop using judo and start using jujitsu,î he continued. ìIt just blows my mind that we, with a collective IQ of 280 million, canít figure out how to deal with Castro. Itís not that hard or complicated. There are so many ways to solve the problem. Itís just extraordinary to me that we have dealt with him so badly for 40 years and are still. Weíve been incredibly stupid in how weíve handled him. We should be building bridges under him,î he said. Kimsey is concerned that the United States is failing to explain itself to the rest of the world despite being at the center of the global communications revolution. ìWe need to find out why weíre so badly losing the information war,î he said. ìItís just incredible that nobody is hearing our story. Nobody. We have the most resources, but we've done everything wrong. We should be saddened by this. We should do something about it.î Kimsey, with his stature as a major business executive, is widely respected in Washington and has access to leaders of both political parties. He was part of a small group of business leaders that traveled with President Bill Clinton to Vietnam several years ago, and he has cordial relations with President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others in the Bush administration. ìI think that sharing my views with Colin Powell or Don Rumsfeld or the White House is valuable. Iím not sure what effect it has. Hopefully, it has some,î Kimsey said. ìMy experiences in the military and the business world have made me very outcome oriented. I think the nonprofit world is mushier. Itís more process oriented. Iím not a process guy. There is a real need for outcome-oriented people,î he added. Kimsey said business leaders bring a practical bend to diplomacy that can be useful. ìDiplomacy is about problem solving. Itís trying to understand everyoneís point of view. Itís about trying to fully understand the realities of a situation,î he said. ìThatís the reason I think businessmen can be pretty good at this. They tend to be very logical, very practical, very focused on reality. Theyíre always trying to figure out the endgame, how you get there, and what does the person youíre dealing with really want.î Kimsey said that when he left the helm of AOL, many of his friends assumed his life would slow down, but the projects keep coming. ìThe confluence of events conspires to keep my plate full. I donít have to think stuff up. Iíve never been busier in my life,î he said. ìOnce you get in the mix, if you do things well, there will be no shortage of opportunities. The trick is to choose projects carefully. And my focus is to bring a successful resolution to everything Iím involved in. Everything.î John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.