Press Release - President Obama Announces Key Administration Post

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key Administration post:

•      Eric S. Edelman, Member, Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key Administration post:

Eric S. Edelman, Nominee for Member, Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace

Eric S. Edelman currently serves as a principal with Avascent International, a global advisory and consulting firm that was launched in February 2010. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Visiting Scholar at the Philip Merril Center for Strategic Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, and a senior associate for the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. From August 2005 to January 2009, he served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Department of Defense. From 2001 to 2003, he was Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs. He also served as Ambassador to Turkey from 2003 to 2005 and the Ambassador to the Republic of Finland from 1998 to 2001. Mr. Edelman entered the Senior Foreign Service in 1992 and retired with the rank of Career Minister in 2009. He also served in the State Department as Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, and Special Assistant to Secretary George Schultz. Mr. Edelman holds a Ph.D. in U.S Diplomatic History from Yale University and a B.A. in History and Government from Cornell University.