Ambassador James Leonard is a co-founder of the Scientists Working Group on Biological and Chemical Weapons in 1989 and has served with the Group ever since. Ambassador Leonard was the chief U.S. negotiator for the Biological Weapons Convention under President Richard Nixon as Assistant Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) from 1969 to 1973. After a brief retirement from government service from 1973 to 1977, during which he served as President of the United Nations Association (UNA), Ambassador Leonard returned to serve as Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. From 1979 to 1981, he was Deputy Special Representative to the Middle East peace negotiations. Prior to joining ACDA, Ambassador Leonard spent twenty years as a Foreign Service Officer in Damascas, Moscow, Paris, Taipei and Washington, DC. Since retiring in 1981, he has been involved as a consultant or board member with a number of non-governmental organizations, including the Aspen Institute, the Palme Commission, the Committee on National Security, the Washington Council on Non-Proliferation, the British American Security Information Council, the Canberra Commission, and others.