MIDEAST EXPERT DAVID SCHENKER RETURNS TO THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE AFTER SERVING AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE 

 

(WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 16, 2021) Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Schenker has returned to The Washington Institute for Near East Policy as a senior fellow, the research organization announced today. 
 
“After nineteen months leading our nation’s Middle East diplomacy, we are delighted to welcome David Schenker back to The Washington Institute,” said Executive Director Robert Satloff. “In government, David was universally praised as a consummate professional and effective diplomat. He returns to the Institute enriched by this experience and we look forward to him imparting his wisdom, ideas and informed analysis with the policy community for many years to come.”

Confirmed by the Senate with a bipartisan vote of 83-11, Schenker joined the State Department in June 2019 to oversee the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which encompasses eighteen countries and includes more than 9,000 diplomats and other staff in missions from Morocco to Oman. As assistant secretary, he was devoted to strengthening relations with U.S. allies, building peace between Israel and a variety of Arab partners, countering the influence of Iran and its proxy militias, and leveraging U.S. diplomatic power to advance stability and economic opportunity in the region.
 
Prior to joining the government, Schenker was the Institute’s Aufzien Fellow and director of the Beth and David Geduld Program on Arab Politics. Previously, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as Levant country director, the Pentagon's top policy aide on the Arab countries of the Levant. The author of numerous monographs and books on the Middle East, Schenker has been published and cited frequently in major media outlets.

 

ANDREW J. TABLER, SYRIA EXPERT DETAILED TO U.S. GOVERNMENT,  RESUMES AS INSTITUTE’S MARTIN J. GROSS FELLOW  

 

Before joining the Institute in 2011, Tabler served as co-founder and editor-in-chief of Syria Today, Syria's first private-sector English-language magazine; as a consultant on U.S.-Syria relations for the International Crisis Group; and as a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, writing on Syrian, Lebanese, and Middle Eastern affairs. He held editorships with the Middle East Times and Cairo Times  before becoming senior editor and editorial director for the Oxford Business Group.
 
The author of the 2008 book, In the Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle with Syria (Lawrence Hill Books), Tabler’s work has appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs. He has also appeared extensively on global radio and television outlets.