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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 23, 2001

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Appointment of Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad

National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice announced today the appointment of Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Gulf, Southwest Asia and Other Regional Issues, National Security Council.

Dr. Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney Transition team for the Department of Defense and has been a Counselor to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld.  Between 1993 and 1999, Dr. Khalilzad was Director of the Strategy, Doctrine and Force Structure program for RAND's Project Air Force.  While with RAND, he founded the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.  Between 1991 and 1992, Dr. Khalilzad served as Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning.  He also served as a senior political scientist at RAND and an associate professor at the University of California at San Diego in 1989 and 1991.  From 1985 to 1989 at the Department of State, Dr. Khalilzad served as Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Policy working policy issues, advising on the Iran-Iraq War, and the Soviet War in Afghanistan.  From 1979 to 1989, Dr. Khalilzad was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University.

Dr. Khalilzad holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1979).  He lives in Maryland with his wife Cheryl Benard and their two children, Alexander and Max.

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