Chapter II: The Way Forward--A New Approach (2)

RECOMMENDATION 58: The FBI should expand its investigative and forensic training and facilities within Iraq, to include coverage of terrorism as well as criminal activity.

One of the major deficiencies of the Iraqi Police Service is its lack of equipment, particularly in the area of communications and motor transport.

RECOMMENDATION 59: The Iraqi government should provide funds to expand and upgrade communications equipment and motor vehicles for the Iraqi Police Service.

The Department of Justice is also better suited than the Department of Defense to carry out the mission of reforming Iraq's Ministry of the Interior and Iraq's judicial system. Iraq needs more than training for cops on the beat: it needs courts, trained prosecutors and investigators, and the ability to protect Iraqi judicial officials.

RECOMMENDATION 60: The U.S. Department of Justice should lead the work of organizational transformation in the Ministry of the Interior. This approach must involve Iraqi officials, starting at senior levels and moving down, to create a strategic plan and work out standard administrative procedures, codes of conduct, and operational measures that Iraqis will accept and use. These plans must be drawn up in partnership.

RECOMMENDATION 61: Programs led by the U.S. Department of Justice to establish courts; to train judges, prosecutors, and investigators; and to create institutions and practices to fight corruption must be strongly supported and funded. New and refurbished courthouses with improved physical security, secure housing for judges and judicial staff, witness protection facilities, and a new Iraqi Marshals Service are essential parts of a secure and functioning system of justice.

5. The Oil Sector

Since the success of the oil sector is critical to the success of the Iraqi economy, the United States must do what it can to help Iraq maximize its capability.

Iraq, a country with promising oil potential, could restore oil production from existing fields to 3.0 to 3.5 million barrels a day over a three-to five-year period, depending on evolving conditions in key reservoirs. Even if Iraq were at peace tomorrow, oil production would decline unless current problems in the oil sector were addressed.

Short Term

RECOMMENDATION 62:

--As soon as possible, the U.S. government should provide technical assistance to the Iraqi government to prepare a draft oil law that defines the rights of regional and local governments and creates a fiscal and legal framework for investment. Legal clarity is essential to attract investment.

--The U.S. government should encourage the Iraqi government to accelerate contracting for the comprehensive well work-overs in the southern fields needed to increase production, but the United States should no longer fund such infrastructure projects.

--The U.S. military should work with the Iraqi military and with private security forces to protect oil infrastructure and contractors. Protective measures could include a program to improve pipeline security by paying local tribes solely on the basis of throughput (rather than fixed amounts).

--Metering should be implemented at both ends of the supply line. This step would immediately improve accountability in the oil sector.

--In conjunction with the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. government should press Iraq to continue reducing subsidies in the energy sector, instead of providing grant assistance. Until Iraqis pay market prices for oil products, drastic fuel shortages will remain.

Long Term

Expanding oil production in Iraq over the long term will require creating corporate structures, establishing management systems, and installing competent managers to plan and oversee an ambitious list of major oil-field investment projects.

To improve oil-sector performance, the Study Group puts forward the following recommendations.

RECOMMENDATION 63:

--The United States should encourage investment in Iraq's oil sector by the international community and by international energy companies.

--The United States should assist Iraqi leaders to reorganize the national oil industry as a commercial enterprise, in order to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accountability.

--To combat corruption, the U.S. government should urge the Iraqi government to post all oil contracts, volumes, and prices on the Web so that Iraqis and outside observers can track exports and export revenues.

--The United States should support the World Bank's efforts to ensure that best practices are used in contracting. This support involves providing Iraqi officials with contracting templates and training them in contracting, auditing, and reviewing audits.

--The United States should provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Oil for enhancing maintenance, improving the payments process, managing cash flows, contracting and auditing, and updating professional training programs for management and technical personnel.

6. U.S. Economic and Reconstruction Assistance

Building the capacity of the Iraqi government should be at the heart of U.S. reconstruction efforts, and capacity building demands additional U.S. resources.

Progress in providing essential government services is necessary to sustain any progress on the political or security front. The period of large U.S.-funded reconstruction projects is over, yet the Iraqi government is still in great need of technical assistance and advice to build the capacity of its institutions. The Iraqi government needs help with all aspects of its operations, including improved procedures, greater delegation of authority, and better internal controls. The strong emphasis on building capable central ministries must be accompanied by efforts to develop functioning, effective provincial government institutions with local citizen participation.

Job creation is also essential. There is no substitute for private-sector job generation, but the Commander's Emergency Response Program is a necessary transitional mechanism until security and the economic climate improve. It provides immediate economic assistance for trash pickup, water, sewers, and electricity in conjunction with clear, hold, and build operations, and it should be funded generously. A total of $753 million was appropriated for this program in FY 2006.

RECOMMENDATION 64: U.S. economic assistance should be increased to a level of $5 billion per year rather than being permitted to decline. The President needs to ask for the necessary resources and must work hard to win the support of Congress. Capacity building and job creation, including reliance on the Commander's Emergency Response Program, should be U.S. priorities. Economic assistance should be provided on a nonsectarian basis.

The New Diplomatic Offensive can help draw in more international partners to assist with the reconstruction mission. The United Nations, the World Bank, the European Union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and some Arab League members need to become hands-on participants in Iraq's reconstruction.

RECOMMENDATION 65: An essential part of reconstruction efforts in Iraq should be greater involvement by and with international partners, who should do more than just contribute money. They should also actively participate in the design and construction of projects.

The number of refugees and internally displaced persons within Iraq is increasing dramatically. If this situation is not addressed, Iraq and the region could be further destabilized, and the humanitarian suffering could be severe. Funding for international relief efforts is insufficient, and should be increased.

RECOMMENDATION 66: The United States should take the lead in funding assistance requests from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and other humanitarian agencies.

Coordination of Economic and Reconstruction Assistance

A lack of coordination by senior management in Washington still hampers U.S. contributions to Iraq's reconstruction.

Focus, priority setting, and skillful implementation are in short supply. No single official is assigned responsibility or held accountable for the overall reconstruction effort. Representatives of key foreign partners involved in reconstruction have also spoken to us directly and specifically about the need for a point of contact that can coordinate their efforts with the U.S. government.

A failure to improve coordination will result in agencies continuing to follow conflicting strategies, wasting taxpayer dollars on duplicative and uncoordinated efforts. This waste will further undermine public confidence in U.S. policy in Iraq.

A Senior Advisor for Economic Reconstruction in Iraq is required. He or she should report to the President, be given a staff and funding, and chair a National Security Council interagency group consisting of senior principals at the undersecretary level from all relevant U.S. government departments and agencies. The Senior Advisor's responsibility must be to bring unity of effort to the policy, budget, and implementation of economic reconstruction programs in Iraq. The Senior Advisor must act as the principal point of contact with U.S. partners in the overall reconstruction effort.

He or she must have close and constant interaction with senior U.S. officials and military commanders in Iraq, especially the Director of the Iraq Reconstruction and Management Office, so that the realities on the ground are brought directly and fully into the policy-making process. In order to maximize the effectiveness of assistance, all involved must be on the same page at all times.

RECOMMENDATION 67: The President should create a Senior Advisor for Economic Reconstruction in Iraq. ATION 67: The President should create a Senior Advisor for Economic Reconstruction in Iraq.

Improving the Effectiveness of Assistance Programs

Congress should work with the administration to improve its ability to implement assistance programs in Iraq quickly, flexibly, and effectively.

As opportunities arise, the Chief of Mission in Iraq should have the authority to fund quick-disbursing projects to promote national reconciliation, as well as to rescind funding from programs and projects in which the government of Iraq is not demonstrating effective partnership. These are important tools to improve performance and accountability--as is the work of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

RECOMMENDATION 68: The Chief of Mission in Iraq should have the authority to spend significant funds through a program structured along the lines of the Commander's Emergency Response Program, and should have the authority to rescind funding from programs and projects in which the government of Iraq is not demonstrating effective partnership.

RECOMMENDATION 69: The authority of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction should be renewed for the duration of assistance programs in Iraq.

U.S. security assistance programs in Iraq are slowed considerably by the differing requirements of State and Defense Department programs and of their respective congressional oversight committees. Since Iraqi forces must be trained and equipped, streamlining the provision of training and equipment to Iraq is critical. Security assistance should be delivered promptly, within weeks of a decision to provide it.

RECOMMENDATION 70: A more flexible security assistance program for Iraq, breaking down the barriers to effective interagency cooperation, should be authorized and implemented.

The United States also needs to break down barriers that discourage U.S. partnerships with international donors and Iraqi participants to promote reconstruction. The ability of the United States to form such partnerships will encourage greater international participation in Iraq.

RECOMMENDATION 71: Authority to merge U.S. funds with those from international donors and Iraqi participants on behalf of assistance projects should be provided.

7. Budget Preparation, Presentation, and Review

The public interest is not well served by the government's preparation, presentation, and review of the budget for the war in Iraq.

First, most of the costs of the war show up not in the normal budget request but in requests for emergency supplemental appropriations. This means that funding requests are drawn up outside the normal budget process, are not offset by budgetary reductions elsewhere, and move quickly to the White House with minimal scrutiny. Bypassing the normal review erodes budget discipline and accountability.

Second, the executive branch presents budget requests in a confusing manner, making it difficult for both the general public and members of Congress to understand the request or to differentiate it from counterterrorism operations around the world or operations in Afghanistan. Detailed analyses by budget experts are needed to answer what should be a simple question: "How much money is the President requesting for the war in Iraq?"

Finally, circumvention of the budget process by the executive branch erodes oversight and review by Congress. The authorizing committees (including the House and Senate Armed Services committees) spend the better part of a year reviewing the President's annual budget request. When the President submits an emergency supplemental request, the authorizing committees are bypassed. The request goes directly to the appropriations committees, and they are pressured by the need to act quickly so that troops in the field do not run out of funds. The result is a spending bill that passes Congress with perfunctory review. Even worse, the must-pass appropriations bill becomes loaded with special spending projects that would not survive the normal review process.

RECOMMENDATION 72: Costs for the war in Iraq should be included in the President's annual budget request, starting in FY 2008: the war is in its fourth year, and the normal budget process should not be circumvented. Funding requests for the war in Iraq should be presented clearly to Congress and the American people. Congress must carry out its constitutional responsibility to review budget requests for the war in Iraq carefully and to conduct oversight.

8. U.S. Personnel

The United States can take several steps to ensure that it has personnel with the right skills serving in Iraq.

All of our efforts in Iraq, military and civilian, are handicapped by Americans' lack of language and cultural understanding. Our embassy of 1,000 has 33 Arabic speakers, just six of whom are at the level of fluency. In a conflict that demands effective and efficient communication with Iraqis, we are often at a disadvantage. There are still far too few Arab language--proficient military and civilian officers in Iraq, to the detriment of the U.S. mission.

Civilian agencies also have little experience with complex overseas interventions to restore and maintain order--stability operations--outside of the normal embassy setting. The nature of the mission in Iraq is unfamiliar and dangerous, and the United States has had great difficulty filling civilian assignments in Iraq with sufficient numbers of properly trained personnel at the appropriate rank.

RECOMMENDATION 73: The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence should accord the highest possible priority to professional language proficiency and cultural training, in general and specifically for U.S. officers and personnel about to be assigned to Iraq.

RECOMMENDATION 74: In the short term, if not enough civilians volunteer to fill key positions in Iraq, civilian agencies must fill those positions with directed assignments. Steps should be taken to mitigate familial or financial hardships posed by directed assignments, including tax exclusions similar to those authorized for U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq.

RECOMMENDATION 75: For the longer term, the United States government needs to improve how its constituent agencies--Defense, State, Agency for International Development, Treasury, Justice, the intelligence community, and others--respond to a complex stability operation like that represented by this decade's Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the previous decade's operations in the Balkans. They need to train for, and conduct, joint operations across agency boundaries, following the Goldwater-Nichols model that has proved so successful in the U.S. armed services.

RECOMMENDATION 76: The State Department should train personnel to carry out civilian tasks associated with a complex stability operation outside of the traditional embassy setting. It should establish a Foreign Service Reserve Corps with personnel and expertise to provide surge capacity for such an operation. Other key civilian agencies, including Treasury, Justice, and Agriculture, need to create similar technical assistance capabilities.

9. Intelligence

While the United States has been able to acquire good and sometimes superb tactical intelligence on al Qaeda in Iraq, our government still does not understand very well either the insurgency in Iraq or the role of the militias.

A senior commander told us that human intelligence in Iraq has improved from 10 percent to 30 percent. Clearly, U.S. intelligence agencies can and must do better. As mentioned above, an essential part of better intelligence must be improved language and cultural skills. As an intelligence analyst told us, "We rely too much on others to bring information to us, and too often don't understand what is reported back because we do not understand the context of what we are told."

The Defense Department and the intelligence community have not invested sufficient people and resources to understand the political and military threat to American men and women in the armed forces. Congress has appropriated almost $2 billion this year for countermeasures to protect our troops in Iraq against improvised explosive devices, but the administration has not put forward a request to invest comparable resources in trying to understand the people who fabricate, plant, and explode those devices.

We were told that there are fewer than 10 analysts on the job at the Defense Intelligence Agency who have more than two years' experience in analyzing the insurgency. Capable analysts are rotated to new assignments, and on-the-job training begins anew. Agencies must have a better personnel system to keep analytic expertise focused on the insurgency. They are not doing enough to map the insurgency, dissect it, and understand it on a national and provincial level. The analytic community's knowledge of the organization, leadership, financing, and operations of militias, as well as their relationship to government security forces, also falls far short of what policy makers need to know.

In addition, there is significant underreporting of the violence in Iraq. The standard for recording attacks acts as a filter to keep events out of reports and databases. A murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack. If we cannot determine the source of a sectarian attack, that assault does not make it into the database. A roadside bomb or a rocket or mortar attack that doesn't hurt U.S. personnel doesn't count. For example, on one day in July 2006 there were 93 attacks or significant acts of violence reported. Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence. Good policy is difficult to make when information is systematically collected in a way that minimizes its discrepancy with policy goals.

RECOMMENDATION 77: The Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense should devote significantly greater analytic resources to the task of understanding the threats and sources of violence in Iraq.

RECOMMENDATION 78: The Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense should also institute immediate changes in the collection of data about violence and the sources of violence in Iraq to provide a more accurate picture of events on the ground.

Recommended Iraqi Actions

The Iraqi government must improve its intelligence capability, initially to work with the United States, and ultimately to take full responsibility for this intelligence function.

To facilitate enhanced Iraqi intelligence capabilities, the CIA should increase its personnel in Iraq to train Iraqi intelligence personnel. The CIA should also develop, with Iraqi officials, a counterterrorism intelligence center for the all-source fusion of information on the various sources of terrorism within Iraq. This center would analyze data concerning the individuals, organizations, networks, and support groups involved in terrorism within Iraq. It would also facilitate intelligence-led police and military actions against them.

RECOMMENDATION 79: The CIA should provide additional personnel in Iraq to develop and train an effective intelligence service and to build a counterterrorism intelligence center that will facilitate intelligence-led counterterrorism efforts.

Appendices

Letter from the Sponsoring Organizations

The initiative for a bipartisan, independent, forward-looking "fresh-eyes" assessment of Iraq emerged from conversations U.S. House Appropriations Committee Member Frank Wolf had with us. In late 2005, Congressman Wolf asked the United States Institute of Peace, a bipartisan federal entity, to facilitate the assessment, in collaboration with the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Interested members of Congress, in consultation with the sponsoring organizations and the administration, agreed that former Republican U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III and former Democratic Congressman Lee H. Hamilton had the breadth of knowledge of foreign affairs required to co-chair this bipartisan effort. The co-chairs subsequently selected the other members of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, all senior individuals with distinguished records of public service. Democrats included former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, former Governor and U.S. Senator Charles S. Robb, former Congressman and White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta, and Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., advisor to President Bill Clinton. Republicans included former Associate Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court Sandra Day O'Connor, former U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson, former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, and former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger. Former CIA Director Robert Gates was an active member for a period of months until his nomination as Secretary of Defense.

The Iraq Study Group was launched on March 15, 2006, in a Capitol Hill meeting hosted by U.S. Senator John Warner and attended by congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle.

To support the Study Group, the sponsoring organizations created four expert working groups consisting of 44 leading foreign policy analysts and specialists on Iraq. The working groups, led by staff of the United States Institute of Peace, focused on the Strategic Environment, Military and Security Issues, Political Development, and the Economy and Reconstruction. Every effort was made to ensure the participation of experts across a wide span of the political spectrum. Additionally, a panel of retired military officers was consulted.

We are grateful to all those who have assisted the Study Group, especially the supporting experts and staff. Our thanks go to Daniel P. Serwer of the Institute of Peace, who served as executive director; Christopher Kojm, advisor to the Study Group; John Williams, Policy Assistant to Mr. Baker; and Ben Rhodes, Special Assistant to Mr. Hamilton.

Richard H. Solomon, President
United States Institute of Peace

Edward P. Djerejian, Founding Director
James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy,
Rice University

David M. Abshire, President
Center for the Study of the Presidency

John J. Hamre, President
Center for Strategic and International Studies

Iraq Study Group Plenary Sessions

March 15, 2006
April 11-12, 2006
May 18-19, 2005
June 13-14, 2006 August 2-3, 2006
August 30-September 4, 2006 (Trip to Baghdad)
September 18-19, 2006
November 13-14, 2006
November 27-29, 2006

Iraq Study Group Consultations

(* denotes a meeting that took place in Iraq)

Iraqi Officials and Representatives

*Jalal Talabani--President
*Tariq al-Hashimi--Vice President
*Adil Abd al-Mahdi--Vice President
*Nouri Kamal al-Maliki--Prime Minister
*Salaam al-Zawbai--Deputy Prime Minister
*Barham Salih--Deputy Prime Minister
*Mahmoud al-Mashhadani--Speaker of the Parliament
*Mowaffak al-Rubaie--National Security Advisor
*Jawad Kadem al-Bolani--Minister of Interior
*Abdul Qader Al-Obeidi--Minister of Defense
*Hoshyar Zebari--Minister of Foreign Affairs
*Bayan Jabr--Minister of Finance
*Hussein al-Shahristani--Minister of Oil
*Karim Waheed--Minister of Electricity
*Akram al-Hakim--Minister of State for National
Reconciliation Affairs
*Mithal al-Alusi--Member, High Commission on
National Reconciliation
*Ayad Jamal al-Din--Member, High Commission on
National Reconciliation
*Ali Khalifa al-Duleimi--Member, High Commission on
National Reconciliation
*Sami al-Ma'ajoon--Member, High Commission on
National Reconciliation
*Muhammad Ahmed Mahmoud--Member, Commission on
National Reconciliation
*Wijdan Mikhael--Member, High Commission on
National Reconciliation
Lt. General Nasir Abadi--Deputy Chief of Staff of the
Iraqi Joint Forces
*Adnan al-Dulaimi--Head of the Tawafuq list
Ali Allawi--Former Minister of Finance
*Sheik Najeh al-Fetlawi--representative of Moqtada al-Sadr
*Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim--Shia Coalition Leader
*Sheik Maher al-Hamraa--Ayat Allah Said Sussein Al Sadar
*Hajim al-Hassani--Member of the Parliament on the Iraqiya list
*Hunain Mahmood Ahmed Al-Kaddo--President of the
Iraqi Minorities Council
*Abid al-Gufhoor Abid al-Razaq al-Kaisi--Dean of the
Islamic University of the Imam Al-Atham
*Ali Neema Mohammed Aifan al-Mahawili--Rafiday Al-Iraq
Al-Jaded Foundation
*Saleh al-Mutlaq--Leader of the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue
*Ayyad al-Sammara'l--Member of the Parliament
*Yonadim Kenna--Member of the Parliament and Secretary General
of Assyrian Movement
*Shahla Wali Mohammed--Iraqi Counterpart International
*Hamid Majid Musa--Secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party
*Raid Khyutab Muhemeed--Humanitarian, Cultural,
and Social Foundation
Sinan Shabibi--Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq
Samir Shakir M. Sumaidaie--Ambassador of Iraq to the United States

Current U.S. Administration Officials

Senior Administration Officials

George W. Bush--President
Richard B. Cheney--Vice President
Condoleezza Rice--Secretary of State
Donald H. Rumsfeld--Secretary of Defense
Stephen J. Hadley--National Security Advisor
Joshua B. Bolten--White House Chief of Staff

Department of Defense/Military

CIVILIAN:
Gordon England--Deputy Secretary of Defense
Stephen Cambone--Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
Eric Edelman--Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

MILITARY:
General Peter Pace--Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Edmund Giambastiani--Vice-Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff
General John Abizaid--Commander, United States Central Command
*General George W. Casey, Jr.--Commanding General,
Multi-National Forces-Iraq
Lt. General James T. Conway--Director of Operations, J-3,
on the Joint Staff
*Lt. General Peter Chiarelli--Commander, Multi-National Forces-Iraq
Lt. General David H. Petraeus--Commanding General,
U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth
*Lt. General Martin Dempsey--Commander Multi-National Security
Transition Command-Iraq
*Maj. General Joseph Peterson--Coalition Police Assistance
Training Team
*Maj. General Richard Zilmer--Commander, 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force
Colonel Derek Harvey--Senior Intelligence Officer for Iraq,
Defense Intelligence Agency
Lt. Colonel Richard Bowyer--National War College
(recently served in Iraq)
Lt. Colonel Justin Gubler--National War College
(recently served in Iraq)
Lt. Colonel David Haight--National War College
(recently served in Iraq)
Lt. Colonel Russell Smith--National War College
(recently served in Iraq)

Department of State/Civilian Embassy Personnel

R. Nicholas Burns--Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs
Philip Zelikow--Counselor to the Department of State
C. David Welch--Assistant Secretary of State for
Near Eastern Affairs
James Jeffrey--Senior Advisor to Secretary Rice and
Coordinator for Iraq Policy
David Satterfield--Senior Advisor to Secretary Rice and
Coordinator for Iraq Policy
Zalmay Khalilzad--U.S. Ambassador to Iraq
*Dan Speckhard--Charge D'Affaires, U.S. Embassy in Iraq
*Joseph Saloom--Director, Iraq Reconstruction and Management Office
*Hilda Arellano--U.S. Agency for International Development
Director in Iraq
*Terrance Kelly--Director, Office of Strategic Plans and Assessments
*Randall Bennett--Regional Security Officer of the U.S. Embassy,
Baghdad, Iraq

Intelligence Community

John D. Negroponte--Director of National Intelligence
General Michael V. Hayden--Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Thomas Fingar--Deputy Director of National Intelligence for
Analysis and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council
John Sherman--Deputy National Intelligence Officer for
Military Issues
Steve Ward--Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Middle East
Jeff Wickham--Iraq Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency

Other Senior Officials

David Walker--Comptroller General of the United States
*Stuart Bowen--Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction

Members of Congress

United States Senate

Senator William Frist (R-TN)--Majority Leader
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)--Minority Leader
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)--Majority Whip
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)--Minority Whip
Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)--Chair, Foreign Relations Committee
Senator John Warner (R-VA)--Chair, Armed Services Committee
Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE)--Ranking Member,
Foreign Relations Committee
Senator Carl Levin (D-MI)--Ranking Member, Armed Services Committee
Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)--Ranking Member,
Energy and Resources Committee
Senator Kit Bond (R-MO)--Member, Intelligence Committee
Senator James Inhofe (R-OK)--Member, Armed Services Committee
Senator John Kerry (D-MA)--Member, Foreign Relations Committee
Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT)--Member, Armed Services Committee
Senator John McCain (R-AZ)--Member, Armed Services Committee
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)--Member, Armed Services Committee

United States House of Representatives

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)--Minority Leader Representative
Tom Davis (R-VA)--Chair, Government Reform Committee
Representative Jane Harman (D-CA)--Ranking Member,
Intelligence Committee
Representative Ike Skelton (D-MO)--Ranking Member,
Armed Services Committee
Representative John Murtha (D-PA)--Ranking Member,
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense
Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN)--Member, Armed Services Committee
Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX)--Member,
International Relations Committee
Representative Alan Mollohan (D-WV)--Member,
Appropriations Committee
Representative Christopher Shays (R-CT)--Member,
Government Reform Committee
Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA)--Member, Appropriations Committee

Foreign Officials

Sheikh Salem al-Abdullah al-Sabah--Ambassador of Kuwait
to the United States
Michael Ambuhl--Secretary of State of Switzerland
Kofi Annan--Secretary-General of the United Nations
*Dominic Asquith--British Ambassador to Iraq
Tony Blair--Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Prince Turki al-Faisal--Ambassador of Saudi Arabia
to the United States
Nabil Fahmy--Ambassador of Egypt to the United States
Karim Kawar--Ambassador of Jordan to the United States
Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa--Ambassador of Qatar
to the United States
*Mukhtar Lamani--Arab League envoy to Iraq
Sir David Manning--British Ambassador to the United States
Imad Moustapha--Ambassador of Syria to the United States
Walid Muallem--Foreign Minister of Syria
Romano Prodi--Prime Minister of Italy
*Ashraf Qazi--Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General
for Iraq
Anders Fogh Rasmussen--Prime Minister of Denmark
Nabi Sensoy--Ambassador of Turkey to the United States
Ephraim Sneh--Deputy Minister of Defense of the State of Israel
Javad Zarif--Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayad--Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the United Arab Emirates

Former Officials and Experts

William J. Clinton--former President of the United States
Walter Mondale--former Vice President of the United States
Madeleine K. Albright--former United States Secretary of State
Warren Christopher--former United States Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger--former United States Secretary of State
Colin Powell--former United States Secretary of State
George P. Schultz--former United States Secretary of State
Samuel R. Berger--former United States National Security Advisor
Zbigniew Brzezinski--former United States National Security Advisor
Anthony Lake--former United States National Security Advisor
General Brent Scowcroft--former United States National
Security Advisor
General Eric Shinseki--former Chief of Staff of the
United States Army
General Anthony Zinni--former Commander,
United States Central Command
General John Keane--former Vice Chief of Staff of the
United States Army
Admiral Jim Ellis--former Commander of United States
Strategic Command
General Joe Ralston--former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO
Lt. General Roger C. Schultz--former Director
of the United States Army National Guard
Douglas Feith--former United States Under Secretary of Defense
for Policy
Mark Danner--The New York Review of Books
Larry Diamond--Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution,
Stanford University
Thomas Friedman--New York Times
Leslie Gelb--President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations
Richard Hill--Director, Office of Strategic Initiatives
and Analysis, CHF International
Richard C. Holbrooke--former Ambassador of the United States
to the United Nations
Martin S. Indyk--Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy,
The Brookings Institution
Ronald Johnson--Executive Vice President for International
Development, RTI International
Frederick Kagan--The American Enterprise Institute
Arthur Keys, Jr.--President and CEO, International Relief
and Development
William Kristol--The Weekly Standard
*Guy Laboa--Kellogg, Brown & Root
Nancy Lindborg--President, Mercy Corps
Michael O'Hanlon--Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies,
The Brookings Institution
George Packer--The New Yorker
Carlos Pascual--Vice President and Director, Foreign Policy Studies,
The Brookings Institution
Robert Perito--Senior Program Officer, United States
Institute of Peace
*Col. Jack Petri, USA (Ret.)--advisor to the Iraqi
Ministry of Interior
Kenneth Pollack--Director of Research, Saban Center for
Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution
Thomas Ricks--The Washington Post
Zainab Salbi--Founder and CEO, Women for Women International
Matt Sherman--former Deputy Senior Advisor and Director of Policy,
Iraqi Ministry of Interior
Strobe Talbott--President, The Brookings Institution
Rabih Torbay--Vice President for International Operations,
International Medical Corps
George Will--The Washington Post

Expert Working Groups and Military Senior Advisor Panel

Economy and Reconstruction

Gary Matthews, USIP Secretariat
Director, Task Force on the United Nations and Special Projects,
United States Institute of Peace

Raad Alkadiri
Director, Country Strategies Group, PFC Energy

Frederick D. Barton
Senior Adviser and Co-Director, International Security Program,
Center for Strategic & International Studies

Jay Collins
Chief Executive Officer, Public Sector Group, Citigroup, Inc.

Jock P. Covey
Senior Vice President, External Affairs, Corporate Security
and Sustainability Services, Bechtel Corporation

Keith Crane
Senior Economist, RAND Corporation

Amy Myers Jaffe
Associate Director for Energy Studies, James A. Baker III Institute
for Public Policy, Rice University

K. Riva Levinson
Managing Director, BKSH & Associates

David A. Lipton
Managing Director and Head of Global Country Risk Management,
Citigroup, Inc

Michael E. O'Hanlon
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution

James A. Placke
Senior Associate, Cambridge Energy Research Associates

James A. Schear
Director of Research, Institute for National Strategic Studies,
National Defense University

Military and Security

Paul Hughes, USIP Secretariat
Senior Program Officer, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and
Stability Operations, United States Institute of Peace

Hans A. Binnendijk
Director & Theodore Roosevelt Chair, Center for Technology &
National Security Policy, National Defense University

James Carafano
Senior Research Fellow, Defense and Homeland Security, Douglas
and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies,
The Heritage Foundation

Michael Eisenstadt
Director, Military & Security Program, The Washington Institute for
Near East Policy

Michele A. Flournoy
Senior Advisor, International Security Program, Center for
Strategic & International Studies

Bruce Hoffman
Professor, Security Studies Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of
Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Clifford May
President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

Robert M. Perito
Senior Program Officer, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and
Stability Operations, United States Institute of Peace

Kalev I. Sepp
Assistant Professor, Department of Defense Analysis, Center
on Terrorism and Irregular Warfare, Naval Postgraduate School

John F. Sigler
Adjunct Distinguished Professor, Near East South Asia Center
for Strategic Studies, National Defense University

W. Andrew Terrill
Research Professor, National Security Affairs, Strategic
Studies Institute

Jeffrey A. White
Berrie Defense Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Political Development

Daniel P. Serwer, USIP Secretariat
Vice President, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability
Operations, United States Institute of Peace

Raymond H. Close
Freelance Analyst and Commentator on Middle East Politics

Larry Diamond Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution,
Sanford University, and Co-Editor, Journal of Democracy

Andrew P. N. Erdmann
Former Director for Iran, Iraq and Strategic Planning,
National Security Council

Reuel Marc Gerecht
Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

David L. Mack
Vice President, The Middle East Institute

Phebe A. Marr
Senior Fellow, United States Institute of Peace

Hassan Mneimneh
Director, Documentation Program, The Iraq Memory Foundation

Augustus Richard Norton
Professor of International Relations and Anthropology,
Department of International Relations, Boston University

Marina S. Ottaway
Senior Associate, Democracy and Rule of Law Project,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Judy Van Rest
Executive Vice President, International Republican Institute

Judith S. Yaphe
Distinguished Research Fellow for the Middle East,
Institute for National Strategic Studies,
National Defense University

Strategic Environment

Paul Stares, USIP Secretariat
Vice President, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention,
United States Institute of Peace

Jon B. Alterman
Director, Middle East Program, Center for Strategic &
International Studies

Steven A. Cook
Douglas Dillon Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

James F. Dobbins
Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center,
RAND Corporation

Hillel Fradkin
Director, Center for Islam, Democracy and the
Future of the Muslim World, Hudson Institute

Chas W. Freeman
Chairman, Projects International and President,
Middle East Policy Council

Geoffrey Kemp
Director, Regional Strategic Programs, The Nixon Center

Daniel C. Kurtzer
S. Daniel Abraham Visiting Professor, Middle East Policy Studies,
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

Ellen Laipson
President and CEO, The Henry L. Stimson Center

William B. Quandt
Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. Professor of Government and
Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia, and Nonresident Senior
Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy,
The Brookings Institution

Shibley Telhami
Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development,
Department of Government & Politics, University of Maryland,
and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy,
The Brookings Institution

Wayne White
Adjunct Scholar, Public Policy Center, Middle East Institute

Military Senior Advisor Panel

Admiral James O. Ellis, Jr.
United States Navy, Retired

General John M. Keane
United States Army, Retired

General Edward C. Meyer
United States Army, Retired

General Joseph W. Ralston
United States Air Force, Retired

Lieutenant General Roger C. Schultz, Sr.
United States Army, Retired

The Iraq Study Group

James A. Baker, III--Co-Chair

James A. Baker, III, has served in senior government positions under three United States presidents. He served as the nation's 61st Secretary of State from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H. W. Bush. During his tenure at the State Department, Mr. Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the unprecedented challenges and opportunities of the post-Cold War era. Mr. Baker's reflections on those years of revolution, war, and peace--The Politics of Diplomacy--was published in 1995.

Mr. Baker served as the 67th Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. As Treasury Secretary, he was also Chairman of the President's Economic Policy Council. From 1981 to 1985, he served as White House Chief of Staff to President Reagan. Mr. Baker's record of public service began in 1975 as Under Secretary of Commerce to President Gerald Ford. It concluded with his service as White House Chief of Staff and Senior Counselor to President Bush from August 1992 to January 1993.

Long active in American presidential politics, Mr. Baker led presidential campaigns for Presidents Ford, Reagan, and Bush over the course of five consecutive presidential elections from 1976 to 1992.

A native Houstonian, Mr. Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1952. After two years of active duty as a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, he entered the University of Texas School of Law at Austin. He received his J.D. with honors in 1957 and practiced law with the Houston firm of Andrews and Kurth from 1957 to 1975.

Mr. Baker's memoir--Work Hard, Study . . . and Keep Out of Politics! Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life--was published in October 2006.

Mr. Baker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 and has been the recipient of many other awards for distinguished public service, including Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson Award, the American Institute for Public Service's Jefferson Award, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government Award, the Hans J. Morgenthau Award, the George F. Kennan Award, the Department of the Treasury's Alexander Hamilton Award, the Department of State's Distinguished Service Award, and numerous honorary academic degrees.

Mr. Baker is presently a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Botts. He is Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University and serves on the board of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. From 1997 to 2004, Mr. Baker served as the Personal Envoy of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to seek a political solution to the conflict over Western Sahara. In 2003, Mr. Baker was appointed Special Presidential Envoy for President George W. Bush on the issue of Iraqi debt. In 2005, he was co-chair, with former President Jimmy Carter, of the Commission on Federal Election Reform. Since March 2006, Mr. Baker and former U.S. Congressman Lee H. Hamilton have served as the co-chairs of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan blue-ribbon panel on Iraq.

Mr. Baker was born in Houston, Texas, in 1930. He and his wife, the former Susan Garrett, currently reside in Houston, and have eight children and seventeen grandchildren. Garrett, currently reside in Houston, and have eight children and seventeen grandchildren.

Lee H. Hamilton--Co-Chair

Lee H. Hamilton became Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in January 1999. Previously, Mr. Hamilton served for thirty-four years as a United States Congressman from Indiana. During his tenure, he served as Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (now the Committee on International Relations) and chaired the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East from the early 1970s until 1993. He was Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran.

Also a leading figure on economic policy and congressional organization, he served as Chair of the Joint Economic Committee as well as the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, and was a member of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee. In his home state of Indiana, Mr. Hamilton worked hard to improve education, job training, and infrastructure. Currently, Mr. Hamilton serves as Director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University, which seeks to educate citizens on the importance of Congress and on how Congress operates within our government.

Mr. Hamilton remains an important and active voice on matters of international relations and American national security. He served as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (better known as the Hart-Rudman Commission), was Co-Chair with former Senator Howard Baker of the Baker-Hamilton Commission to Investigate Certain Security Issues at Los Alamos, and was Vice-Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission), which issued its report in July 2004. He is currently a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council, as well as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Advisory Board.

Born in Daytona Beach, Florida, Mr. Hamilton relocated with his family to Tennessee and then to Evansville, Indiana. Mr. Hamilton is a graduate of DePauw University and the Indiana University School of Law, and studied for a year at Goethe University in Germany. Before his election to Congress, he practiced law in Chicago and in Columbus, Indiana. A former high school and college basketball star, he has been inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

Mr. Hamilton's distinguished service in government has been honored through numerous awards in public service and human rights as well as honorary degrees. He is the author of A Creative Tension--The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress (2002) and How Congress Works and Why You Should Care (2004), and the coauthor of Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission (2006).

Lee and his wife, the former Nancy Ann Nelson, have three children-- Tracy Lynn Souza, Deborah Hamilton Kremer, and Douglas Nelson Hamilton--and five grandchildren: Christina, Maria, McLouis and Patricia Souza and Lina Ying Kremer.

Lawrence S. Eagleburger--Member

Lawrence S. Eagleburger was sworn in as the 62nd U.S. Secretary of State by President George H. W. Bush on December 8, 1992, and as Deputy Secretary of State on March 20, 1989.

After his entry into the Foreign Service in 1957, Mr. Eagleburger served in the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research, in the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, and the U.S. Mission to NATO in Belgium. In 1963, after a severe earthquake in Macedonia, he led the U.S. government effort to provide medical and other assistance. He was then assigned to Washington, D.C., where he served on the Secretariat staff and as special assistant to Dean Acheson, advisor to the President on Franco-NATO issues. In August 1966, he became acting director of the Secretariat staff.

In October 1966, Mr. Eagleburger joined the National Security Council staff. In October 1967, he was assigned as special assistant to Under Secretary of State Nicholas Katzenbach. In November 1968, he was appointed Dr. Henry Kissinger's assistant, and in January 1969, he became executive assistant to Dr. Kissinger at the White House. In September 1969, he was assigned as political advisor and chief of the political section of the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels.

Mr. Eagleburger became Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in August 1971. Two years later, he became Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. The same year he returned to the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Operations. He subsequently followed Dr. Kissinger to the State Department, becoming Executive Assistant to the Secretary of State. In 1975, he was made Deputy Under Secretary of State for Management.

In June 1977, Mr. Eagleburger was appointed Ambassador to Yugoslavia, and in 1981 he was nominated as Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs. In February 1982, he was appointed Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Mr. Eagleburger has received numerous awards, including an honorary knighthood from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II (1994); the Distinguished Service Award (1992), the Wilbur J. Carr Award (1984), and the Distinguished Honor Award (1984) from the Department of State; the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal from the Department of Defense (1978); and the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service (1976).

After retiring from the Department of State in May 1984, Mr. Eagleburger was named president of Kissinger Associates, Inc. Following his resignation as Secretary of State on January 19, 1993, he joined the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman and Caldwell as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor. He joined the boards of Halliburton Company, Phillips Petroleum Company, and Universal Corporation. Mr. Eagleburger currently serves as Chairman of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims.

He received his B.S. degree in 1952 and his M.S. degree in 1957, both from the University of Wisconsin, and served as first lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1954. Mr. Eagleburger is married to the former Marlene Ann Heinemann. He is the father of three sons, Lawrence Scott, Lawrence Andrew, and Lawrence Jason.

Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.--Member

Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., is a Senior Managing Director of Lazard Freres & Co, LLC in New York. He works with a diverse group of clients across a broad range of industries.

Prior to joining Lazard, Mr. Jordan was a Senior Executive Partner with the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP, where he remains Senior Counsel. While there Mr. Jordan practiced general, corporate, legislative, and international law in Washington, D.C.

Before Akin Gump, Mr. Jordan held the following positions: President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League, Inc.; Executive Director of the United Negro College Fund, Inc.; Director of the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council; Attorney-Consultant, U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity; Assistant to the Executive Director of the Southern Regional Council; Georgia Field Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and an attorney in private practice in Arkansas and Georgia.

Mr. Jordan's presidential appointments include the President's Advisory Committee for the Points of Light Initiative Foundation, the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on South Africa, the Advisory Council on Social Security, the Presidential Clemency Board, the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, the National Advisory Committee on Selective Service, and the Council of the White House Conference "To Fulfill These Rights." In 1992, Mr. Jordan served as the Chairman of the Clinton Presidential Transition Team.

Mr. Jordan's corporate and other directorships include American Express Company; Asbury Automotive Group, Inc.; Howard University (Trustee); J. C. Penney Company, Inc.; Lazard Ltd.; Xerox Corporation; and the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold.

Mr. Jordan is a graduate of DePauw University and the Howard University Law School. He holds honorary degrees from more than 60 colleges and universities in America. He is a member of the bars of Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Georgia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Bilderberg Meetings and he is President of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. Mr. Jordan is the author of Vernon Can Read! A Memoir (Public Affairs, 2001).

Edwin Meese III--Member

Edwin Meese III holds the Ronald Reagan Chair in Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy research and education institution. He is also the Chairman of Heritage's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. In addition, Meese lectures, writes, and consults throughout the United States on a variety of subjects.

Meese is the author of With Reagan: The Inside Story, which was published by Regnery Gateway in June 1992; co-editor of Making America Safer, published in 1997 by the Heritage Foundation; and coauthor of Leadership, Ethics and Policing, published by Prentice Hall in 2004.

Meese served as the 75th Attorney General of the United States from February 1985 to August 1988. As the nation's chief law enforcement officer, he directed the Department of Justice and led international efforts to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, and organized crime. In 1985 he received Government Executive magazine's annual award for excellence in management.

From January 1981 to February 1985, Meese held the position of Counsellor to the President, the senior position on the White House staff, where he functioned as the President's chief policy advisor. As Attorney General and as Counsellor, Meese was a member of the President's cabinet and the National Security Council. He served as Chairman of the Domestic Policy Council and of the National Drug Policy Board. Meese headed the President-elect's transition effort following the November 1980 election. During the presidential campaign, he served as chief of staff and senior issues advisor for the Reagan-Bush Committee.

Formerly, Meese served as Governor Reagan's executive assistant and chief of staff in California from 1969 through 1974 and as legal affairs secretary from 1967 through 1968. Before joining Governor Reagan's staff in 1967, Meese served as deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California. From 1977 to 1981, Meese was a professor of law at the University of San Diego, where he also was Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.

In addition to his background as a lawyer, educator, and public official, Meese has been a business executive in the aerospace and transportation industry, serving as vice president for administration of Rohr Industries, Inc., in Chula Vista, California. He left Rohr to return to the practice of law, engaging in corporate and general legal work in San Diego County.

Meese is a graduate of Yale University, Class of 1953, and holds a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a retired colonel in the United States Army Reserve. He is active in numerous civic and educational organizations. Meese is married, has two grown children, and resides in McLean, Virginia.

Sandra Day O'Connor--Member

Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated by President Reagan as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court on July 7, 1981, and took the oath of office on September 25. O'Connor previously served on the Arizona Court of Appeals (1979-81) and as judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Arizona (1975-79). She was appointed as Arizona state senator in 1969 and was subsequently elected to two two-year terms from 1969 to 1975. During her tenure, she was Arizona Senate Majority Leader and Chairman of the State, County, and Municipal Affairs Committee, and she served on the Legislative Council, on the Probate Code Commission, and on the Arizona Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations.

From 1965 to 1969, O'Connor was assistant attorney general in Arizona. She practiced law at a private firm in Maryvale, Arizona, from 1958 to 1960 and prior to that was civilian attorney for Quartermaster Market Center in Frankfurt, Germany (1954-57), and deputy county attorney in San Mateo County, California (1952-53)

She was previously Chairman of the Arizona Supreme Court Committee to Reorganize Lower Courts (1974-75), Vice Chairman of the Arizona Select Law Enforcement Review Commission (1979-80), and, in Maricopa County, Chairman of the Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service (1960-62), the Juvenile Detention Home Visiting Board (1963-64), and the Superior Court Judges' Training and Education Committee (1977-79) and a member of the Board of Adjustments and Appeals (1963-64).

O'Connor currently serves as Chancellor of the College of William and Mary and on the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Executive Board of the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and the Advisory Committee of the American Society of International Law, Judicial. She is an honorary member of the Advisory Committee for the Judiciary Leadership Development Council, an honorary chair of America's 400th Anniversary: Jamestown 2007, a co-chair of the National Advisory Council of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, a member of the Selection Committee of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Stanford Center on Ethics. She also serves on several bodies of the American Bar Association, including the Museum of Law Executive Committee, the Commission on Civic Education and Separation of Powers, and the Advisory Commission of the Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress.

O'Connor previously served as a member of the Anglo-American Exchange (1980); the State Bar of Arizona Committees on Legal Aid, Public Relations, Lower Court Reorganization, and Continuing Legal Education; the National Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (1974-76); the Arizona State Personnel Commission (1968-69); the Arizona Criminal Code Commission (1974-76); and the Cathedral Chapter of the Washington National Cathedral (1991-99).

O'Connor is a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Arizona, the State Bar of California, the Maricopa County Bar Association, the Arizona Judges' Association, the National Association of Women Judges, and the Arizona Women Lawyers' Association. She holds a B.A. (with Great Distinction) and an LL.B. (Order of the Coif) from Stanford University, where she was also a member of the board of editors of the Stanford Law Review.

Leon E. Panetta--Member

Leon E. Panetta currently co-directs the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan study center for the advancement of public policy based at California State University, Monterey Bay. He serves as distinguished scholar to the chancellor of the California State University system, teaches a Master's in Public Policy course at the Panetta Institute, is a presidential professor at Santa Clara University, and created the Leon Panetta Lecture Series.

Panetta first went to Washington in 1966, when he served as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Thomas H. Kuchel of California. In 1969, he became Special Assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and then Director of the U.S. Office for Civil Rights. His book Bring Us Together (published in 1971) is an account of that experience. In 1970, he went to New York City, where he served as Executive Assistant to Mayor John Lindsay. Then, in 1971, Panetta returned to California, where he practiced law in the Monterey firm of Panetta, Thompson & Panetta until he was elected to Congress in 1976.

Panetta was a U.S. Representative from California's 16th (now 17th) district from 1977 to 1993. He authored the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988, the Fair Employment Practices Resolution, legislation that established Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for hospice care for the terminally ill, and other legislation on a variety of education, health, agriculture, and defense issues.

From 1989 to 1993, Panetta was Chairman of the House Committee on the Budget. He also served on that committee from 1979 to 1985. He chaired the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations and Nutrition; the House Administration Committee's Subcommittee on Personnel and Police; and the Select Committee on Hunger's Task Force on Domestic Hunger. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Caucus of Vietnam Era Veterans in Congress and as a member of the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies.

Panetta left Congress in 1993 to become Director of the Office of Management and Budget for the incoming Clinton administration. Panetta was appointed Chief of Staff to the President of the United States on July 17, 1994, and served in that position until January 20, 1997.

In addition, Panetta served a six-year term on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange beginning in 1997. He currently serves on many public policy and organizational boards, including as Chair of the Pew Oceans Commission and Co-Chair of the California Council on Base Support and Retention.