A dogged campaigner for non-proliferation
The Egyptian diplomat has led the International Atomic Energy Agency during its transition from a nondescript bureaucracy monitoring nuclear sites worldwide to a pivotal institution at the forefront of disarmament efforts.
Austere and methodical, he has taken a sometimes strident line while guiding the Vienna-based agency through the troubles it has faced since the end of the Cold War.
He accused North Korea of "nuclear brinkmanship" in December 2002 after it expelled two inspectors monitoring a mothballed nuclear complex.
"I see a very serious crisis a country that's completely defying the world," he said.
He also directed the agency as it launched inspections in Iraq.
Most recently, it is his focus on Iran and IAEA efforts to establish whether the country has a secret nuclear weapons programme that has kept him in the international non-proliferation limelight.
Iran, concerns about a nuclear black market and efforts to end North Korea's nuclear arms programme pose "an unprecedented array of challenges to the non-proliferation and arms control regime", he said last month, as he outlined agency priorities.
El Baradei has had to contend with US opposition to his tenure, but that ended formally last month when IAA member nations formally approved his reappointment for a third term.
Much of the opposition stemmed from Washington's perception that he was being too soft on Iran for not declaring it in violation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. That stance blocked a US bid to haul Tehran before the UN Security Council for over two years.
He also refused to endorse Washington's contention that Iran was working to make nuclear weapons and disputed US assertions that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq had an active atomic weapons program both claims that remain unproven, despite growing suspicions about Tehran's nuclear agenda.
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