Richard Armitage, Ex-U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Dies at 79; American Expert on Japan Helped Deepen Japan-U.S. Alliance

By Shinji Abe / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

17:30 JST, April 15, 2025

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, known for his expertise on Japan, died on Sunday, his consulting firm announced Monday. He was 79.

Armitage served in key U.S. government posts in the fields of diplomacy and security and helped deepen the Japan-U.S. alliance.

According to Armitage International, L.C., the consulting firm that he founded, Armitage died from pulmonary embolism.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Armitage served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War.

Under the administration of former President Ronald Reagan, he held the position of assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.

From 2001 to 2005, he was the deputy secretary of state under the administration of then President George W. Bush.

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Armitage called on nations around the world to cooperate in a campaign to sweep the Taliban out of Afghanistan.

He strongly urged Japan to contribute to the campaign, which led the country to establish special antiterrorist legislation that paved the way for the Self-Defense Forces to operate overseas on such missions as providing logistic support.

Armitage has emphasized Japan’s importance to the United States. Starting in 2000, he coauthored six “Armitage-Nye” reports, which called for the enhancement of the Japan-U.S. alliance, with former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Nye and other experts. The sixth report, released in 2024, proposed the creation of a mechanism to facilitate quick decision-making between U.S. forces and the SDF, given China’s coercive behavior and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Since 2005, Armitage had contributed a column to The Yomiuri Shimbun’s “Insights into the World” series, which features prominent figures from around the world, with an original English version of his column also appearing in The Japan News.

In 2015, he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government.

At a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed his condolences for the death of Armitage and praised the American’s achievements. “[Armitage] strengthened Japan-U.S. security cooperation, including in the area of missile defense,” Hayashi said. “He significantly contributed to enhancing the alliance.”