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February 14, 2005

Fletcher Grad Named Adviser To Rice

Reprinted from Tufts E-News

Philip Zelikow, a Tufts graduate who won praise as the executive director of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has been selected to serve as senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"Philip and I have worked together for years, and I value his counsel and expertise," Rice said in a statement. "I appreciate his willingness to take on this assignment."

Zelikow, who is currently executive director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, will assume a role where he will advise the secretary on matters of policy and diplomacy. He received a master's and a doctorate from The Fletcher School.

"It's been somebody the secretary could turn to, rely on for projects, advice, thinking, coordination – a lot of different things," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher – who also graduated from Tufts – told The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Va.). "It's a very personal position, sort of, for the secretary."

The position of senior adviser has not been filled since 2001, but Zelikow's colleagues believe he will be a perfect fit.

"It's a job that absolutely suits him to a T," George H. Gilliam, program director at the Miller Center, told The Daily Progress.

Most recently, Zelikow was the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, which sought to explain how the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetrated and how to prevent future attacks. Many of the commission's recommendations have been implemented – most notably the appointment of Ambassador John Negroponte as national intelligence director – and the published report became a best-seller.

Between 2001 and 2003, Zelikow was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and served as executive director of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform and executive director of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age. He has previously served in various capacities with the U.S. Navy, State Department and National Security Council.

Zelikow and Rice, who worked together in the National Security Council during George H.W. Bush's presidency, co-authored a book in 1995 entitled Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft.

The Fletcher graduate taught public policy at Harvard University before coming to the University of Virginia, where The Miller Center supports scholarship concerning government and public policy. While Zelikow has been hailed for his efforts at the center, those who work with him understand why he is moving on.

"He's a patriot, and it's very hard to say no," Gilliam told The Daily Progress.

Posted by jessica at February 14, 2005 12:21 PM