Bruce Owens III

Bruce Owens III (born November 13, 1954) is an American politician and diplomat who is currently the senior United States Senator from Nebraska since 2003. He was previously the United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 1997 to 2001.

Early life and early career
Bruce Owens III was born on November 13, 1954 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a member of the Owens political family, the son of Bruce Owens Jr. who served United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 2001 and the 35th Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1991. Owens’ grandfather was Bruce Owens Sr. who served as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 1955 to 1979 and Mayor of Lincoln, Nebraska from 1947 to 1955. He studied at Harvard College where he received a bachelor of arts degree. Owens received an M.Litt. in international relations in 1983 from Oxford University, where he was a Newton-Tatum scholar at Balliol College.

He joined the United States Foreign Service in 1985 and was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Japan. The following year, Owens was sent to serve at the embassy in South Korea. He was named the consul-general of the United States Embassy in Seoul in 1990, a post he served in until July 1993 when he returned to the United States.

State Department
In July 1993, Owens due to influence from his father who was appointed Secretary of Agriculture months earlier became Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in which capacity he was responsible for Asian security affairs at the Pentagon.

In May 1997, U.S. President Pat Weil nominated Owens as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and he held this office from August 5, 1997 until January 20, 2001.

United States Senate
Following his service in the Weil administration Owens was elected to the United States Senate in the 2002 election defeating his Democratic opponent by by 59%–41%. He was sworn in on January 3, 2003. He supported congressional approval for military action in the Middle East in 2004 and was a leading co-sponsor of the National Right to Work Legality Defense Act with fellow Republican Senator Todd Kirkpatrick of Oklahoma in 2007. If the bill had become law it would have prohibited union security agreements between employers and workers' unions nationwide.

He like other Republicans and a minority of Democrats opposed the National Healthcare Act of 2010 that failed in the Republican-controlled House that passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Senator Owens’ first leadership role was as Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism where he dealt with all matters concerning U.S. relations with the countries of the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Central Asia, as well as regional intergovernmental organizations. He has long been a supporter of harsh sanctions on Iran and North Korea consistently voting in favor even when they did not pass. In 2013, he voted for a deployment of 40,000 more troops to Korristan.

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
After the Republicans won control of the Senate during the 2014 midterms, Owens became Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 2015 Owens, as Senate Foreign Relations Chair, he backed the Grady administration's plan to sell more than $1.15 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia. He has opposed lifting the United States embargo against Cuba and a joint missile defense system with Russia in Azerbaijan. Senator Owens opposes President Mark Hollis’ decrease in defense spending and withdrawal from Korristan but supported his decision to returning North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism. In early 2017, he spoke on the Senate floor denouncing President Hollis’ decision to withdraw U.S. troops in the Middle East but still arm and train Arab and Kurdish forces stating that, “The current administration is proposing withdrawing U.S. troops across the Middle East while still fully assisting a myriad of local forces. This policy is extremely irresponsible and will result in a ‘power vacuum’ that will most definitely be filled by jihadist terrorists and U.S.-backed forces who themselves are more than likely to become radicalized as well”.

Presidential Politics
Senator Owens supported President John Grady during both of his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. He voted in line with Grady's position 91.7% of the time. During the 2016 Republican presidential primaries he was a vocal and early supporter of Senate colleague and and long time friend, Todd Kirkpatrick of Oklahoma. He was seen as the most likely choice for the Republican vice presidential nomination if Senator Kirkpatrick won the presidential nomination. Kirkpatrick lost the nomination to Missouri Governor Don Delaney and both Senators were considered for the vice presidential slot. Senator Owens was also considered for the post of Secretary of State in a potential Delaney administration.