Ray Walser is the Executive Director at America's Forum and policy anaylst  specializing in Latin America. Walser's area of policy research and interest include defending the values of freedom and individual liberty, strengthening democratic institutions and the rule of law and advancing free trade and free-market economies in the Western Hemisphere. He also has interests in protecting American security and meeting new transnational threats in a global age. Walser was a career Foreign Service Office with the State Department, where he served for 27 years. His last foreign assignment was to the U.S. Consulate General in Cape Town, South Africa, from 2003 until 2005. In his career, he was also assigned to Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Nicaragua. A native of North Carolina, Walser was educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning a doctorate, master's and a bachelor's degree there. He speaks Spanish and conducted archival research in France to prepare his doctoral dissertation on French naval policy from 1898-1914. Walser is married, has three children, and lives in Reston, Va.