Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke will join Council as Counselor

For further information contact: April Palmerlee, Director of Communications 434-9544

January 4, 2001, New York, NY – Richard C. Holbrooke, United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, will leave his post early this year to become a counselor at the Council on Foreign Relations, announced Council President Leslie H. Gelb. While at the Council, Ambassador Holbrooke plans to write on the relationship between the United States and the United Nations, based on his personal experience at the U.N. and his numerous high-level positions at the Department of State. He will continue writing about the ongoing conflicts in the Balkans and will also work on another area of expertise, the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. “Richard Holbrooke will add great insight and policy energy to Council activities,” said Mr. Gelb.

Ambassador Holbrooke has served as the United States Permanent Representative to the U.N. for 17 months, during which time the United States has achieved enormous success in bringing about U.N. reforms. Most significantly, he led the successful fight to repay long-standing U.S. arrears to the U.N. Prior to this appointment, he served twice as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, once for European and Canadian Affairs (1994-1995) and once for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1977-1981). He has been a director of the Council on Foreign Relations Board twice during his career.

The Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921 and based in New York, is a national nonpartisan membership organization and think tank dedicated to fostering America’s understanding of other nations through study and debate.