Whit Mason
RUSI Associate Fellow
From post-Soviet Siberia to the siege of Sarajevo, Kandahar to Kyiv, Whit has helped to understand and influence the conditions, perceptions and narratives that have fuelled many of the pivotal crucibles of the past three decades.
Whit began his career in 1991 by founding and editing newspapers in Novosibirsk and in Vladivostok, Russia, then worked as a magazine staff writer in Hong Kong, and a CBS News correspondent in war-time Sarajevo and in Seoul. Based in Istanbul as a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, for two years Whit explored the interaction between religion and power in Turkey, Iran, and the southern Balkans.
Whit has drawn on this wealth of on-the-ground experience to lead multifunctional teams and advise prime ministers, ambassadors, generals, and the United Nations on how to maximise and optimise their influence in Ukraine, the Balkans, northern Europe, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Caucasus, and Southeast Asia. He was the public affairs strategist and speechwriter for the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the UN's justice coordinator for southern Afghanistan. He published books about both.
Whit established Mason Change Communications to deliver the UK’s strategic communication support to Ukraine during the tumultuous period following the Euromaidan and Russia’s first invasion. He has written speeches delivered in the UN Security Council, the North Atlantic Council, and Sandhurst.
Whit studied the history of ideas at the Universities of Washington and Oregon, international relations at Cambridge, law at the University of New South Wales, and philosophy, theology, and religion at the University of Lucerne. He is a member of HMG’s Civilian Deployment Group and an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. He has published books on Kosovo and Afghanistan and is currently writing a book about the role of the Orthodox churches in Putin’s war against Ukraine.