Martha Brill Olcott

Who is Martha Brill Olcott?

Martha Brill Olcott is a leading U.S. expert on Central Asia and the Caspian. She is a senior associate with the Russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, co-directing the Carnegie Moscow Center's Project on Ethnicity and Politics in the former Soviet Union. She taught political science at Colgate University from 1975 until 1998. She joined the Carnegie Foundation in 1995. She previously served as a special consultant to Acting United States Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and as director of the Central Asian American Enterprise Fund.

She received her graduate degrees from the University of Chicago.

She has criticized the amount of aid the U.S. government gives to Central Asian entities, saying, "The United States has had declining influence in the area and this isn't going to stop it [the decline]." She also says the government focuses too much on Afghanistan.

Olcott has commented on the effects of the global financial crisis on Central Asia.