Edward S. Walker Jr.

Edward S. Walker was born in Abington, Pennsylvania. He is a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the UAE and is a Middle East specialist.

Edward Walker received his B.A. from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, in 1963 and his M.A. from Boston University in 1965.[1] While in college, he became a member of the Hamilton chapter of Chi Psi, a chapter which claims four U.S. Ambassadors as alumni (including Ambassador Walker).[2] In 1985, he attended the Royal College of Defense Studies in London. In 1962, Walker enlisted in the U.S. Army and served 3 years in Heidelberg, Germany.

Ambassador Edward S. Walker Jr. is an Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute's public policy center. Ambassador Walker served as MEI's President and CEO for over five years, from 2001 until August 2006.

Walker's diplomatic career:

In the course of his career, Walker worked with every Israeli Prime Minister since Golda Meir, with Presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, with Presidents Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad of Syria, with King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and with Kings Hussein and Abdullah of Jordon, among others. During his time as Ambassador to Israel, Walker worked closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu in preparation for and during the Wye negotiations. He started the negotiations with Libya which led to Libya's decision to abandon its weapons of mass destruction programs and pay almost 3 billion US dollars in compensation to the families of Pan Am Flight 103 as well as UTA Flight 772.[3] In Egypt he worked with Vice President Al Gore and President Hosni Mubarak on a major initiative to reform the Egyptian economy. Walker also worked with US and Egyptian intelligence officials to counter the terrorist threat facing that country.

Walker previously worked with Colin Powell in the new Bush Administration as assistant secretary of state for Near-Eastern affairs, a position he had previously held under Madeleine Albright during the second Clinton administration. During that time he helped initiate and negotiate U.S. policy toward Iraq and engaged in recalibrating U.S. policies toward Iran and the Middle East peace process.

Currently Edward S. Walker Jr. holds the Christian A. Johnson Distinguished Professorship in Global Political Theory at Hamilton College. He formerly served as the Linowitz Professor of Middle East Studies in 2003 and 2005. During the Fall 2008 he is teaching "Global Challenges" and "Terrorism, Islam and Counter-terrorism". In the spring 2009 he will teach "Democracy, Religion and International Cooperation" and "International Decision-Making."[4]

Sources

References

  1. Edward S. Walker biography, Israel Policy Forum
  2. Hamilton, College (2012). 2012 Hamilton College Register. Clinton, NY: Hamilton College.
  3. Marcus, Jonathan, (May 15, 2006), "Washington's Libyan fairy tale", BBC News, Accessed July 15, 2006
  4. Hamilton Online, Accessed September 6, 2008.

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
David Lyle Mack
U.S. Ambassador to United Arab Emirates
1989–1992
Succeeded by
William Arthur Rugh
Preceded by
Robert H. Pelletreau
U.S. Ambassador to Egypt
1994–1997
Succeeded by
Daniel C. Kurtzer
Preceded by
Martin Indyk
U.S. Ambassador to Israel
1997–2000
Succeeded by
Martin Indyk
Government offices
Preceded by
Martin Indyk
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs
20002001
Succeeded by
William Joseph Burns
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