For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 2, 2002
Statement by the Press Secretary
National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice announced today the
appointment of Elliott Abrams as Special Assistant to the President and
Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs, including
Arab/Israel relations and U.S. efforts to promote peace and security in
the region.
Mr. Abrams has served since June 2001 as Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights and
International Operations. He was a member and then Chairman of the
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 1999 to 2001,
and President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center from 1996 to
2001. Mr. Abrams served as an Assistant Secretary of State during the
Reagan Administration, from 1981 to 1989.
Dr. Rice also announced today the appointment of Flynt Leverett as
Senior Director for Middle East Initiatives at the National Security
Council. In this role, he will have principal responsibility for
Arab-Israeli issues in the NSC's directorate for Near East and North
African Affairs, working under Elliott Abrams, who has been appointed
to lead that directorate. Dr. Leverett, who holds a Ph.D. in politics
from Princeton University, is on detail from the CIA, where he was a
senior Middle East analyst. He joined the NSC in February, after
serving on the State Department's Policy Planning staff, and has been
acting Senior Director for Middle East Affairs since July.
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