Distinguished Senior Statesmen James Schlesinger and Thomas Pickering Chair New Council Task Force, Iraq: The Day After

March 5, 2003 - Former Defense Secretary and Energy Secretary James Schlesinger and former UN Ambassador Thomas Pickering are co-chairing the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force, Iraq: The Day After.

They are joined by a powerful group of experts who have teamed-up to provide nonpartisan evaluation and ideas for political and economic recovery in Iraq should war occur (see list below). Council Senior Fellow and former National Security Council aide Eric Schwartz is the Task Force project director. “Tom and Jim agreed to run this Task Force – that shows how important it is,” said Council President Leslie H. Gelb.

The Task Force will focus on the extraordinary national commitment that the post-conflict peace stabilization and reconstruction effort will require. It takes as its working assumption that— in the event of war— success in Iraq depends not only on battlefield victory but thereafter, in turning Iraq into a better and safer place.

Building on the work of the recently issued CFR-Baker Institute report, Guiding Principles for U.S. Post-Conflict Policy in Iraq, the Task Force will also address how the United States can work effectively with Iraqis, other governments, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations. It will make recommendations on humanitarian assistance, transitional governance, oil, economics and reconstruction, and regional security issues.

The Task Force will make specific recommendations in a report to be issued March 12, 2003.

TASK FORCE MEMBERS

PROFESSOR FOUAD AJAMI is the Majid Khadduri Professor and Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

J. BRIAN ATWOOD is dean of the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. He served as the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Clinton administration.

KENNETH H. BACON is the President and CEO of Refugees International. Between 1994 and 2001, he served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Pentagon spokesman.

EDWARD P. DJEREJIAN is the founding Director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and serves as the Robert and Janice McNair Chair in Public Policy and Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly University Chair for Senior Scholars.

JAMES F. DOBBINS is the Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at RAND. As a former Ambassador, he held senior State and White House posts under four presidents and managed the U.S. responses to post-conflict challenges in the Balkans, Haiti, and Afghanistan.

STANLEY FISCHER is the Vice Chairman of Citigroup and the President of Citigroup International. He has served as the First Deputy Managing Director of International Monetary Fund from September 1994 to August 2001 and as Special Adviser to the Managing Director from September 1, 2001 until January 31, 2002.

RICHARD N. FOSTER is a senior partner and director of McKinsey and Company, where he has worked since 1973.

REND FRANCKE is currently the Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation. She has written extensively on Iraqi politics and is the coauthor of The Arab Shia: The Forgotten Muslims published in 2000.

BART FRIEDMAN is a Senior Partner Cahill Gordon and Reindel and serves on the Brookings Institution Board of Trustees.

CARL SAMUEL GERSHMAN has been the President of the National Endowment for Democracy since his appointment in 1984.

JOHN C. HULSMAN is a Research Fellow in European Affairs, at the Davis Institute for International Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

JEANE J. KIRKPATRICK is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University. She served as a U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations during the Reagan administration and was a member of President Reagan’s cabinet and National Security Council.

ELLEN LAIPSON is president and CEO of the Henry L. Stimson Center. She formerly served as Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council.

ROBERT A. MALLEY is the Director of the International Crisis Group’s Middle East Program and serves as Senior Policy Advisor at the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Development.

PHEBE MARR is a leading specialist on Iraq and was a Senior Fellow at the National Defense University.

EDWARD L. MORSE is Senior Executive Advisor at Hess Energy Trading.

GREGORY S. NEWBOLD is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. A retired Lieutenant General, he was formerly the Director of Operations on the Joint Staff.

DIANE ORENTLICHER is a Professor at American University’s Washington College of Law and is Director of the school’s War Crimes Research Office.

THOMAS R. PICKERING, co-chair of the Task Force, is Senior Vice President for International Relations at Boeing. In a diplomatic career spanning five decades, he also served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

JAMES A. PLACKE, is currently a Senior Associate at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) and a nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Previously he was Director for Middle East Research at CERA.

KENNETH M. POLLACK is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and Director of Research, at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy.

JAMES R. SCHLESINGER, co-chair of the Task Force, is the Chairman of the MITRE Corporation’s Board of Trustees and is Senior Advisor at Lehman Brothers. He is also Counselor and Trustee for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Chairman of the Executive Committee at The Nixon Center. He has served as Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Energy.

ERIC P. SCHWARTZ, director of this Task Force, is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Eric was previously with the National Security Council from 1993 to 2001, where he most recently served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs.

JOHN M. SHALIKASHVILI is a Visiting Professor with the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He was formerly Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

RICHARD H. SOLOMON is President of the United States Institute of Peace.

GORDON R. SULLIVAN is the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Association of the United States Army

LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS is noted economist and former Secretary of the Treasury, and in 1991 was named vice president and chief economist for the World Bank. He currently serves as the 27th president of Harvard University.

FRANK G. WISNER is Vice Chairman of External Affairs at American International Group, Inc.

Contact: Lisa Shields, Vice President, Communications, 212-434-9888