Note: This is an archived profile of a former U.S. Institute of Peace expert. The information is current as of the dates of tenure.
Robert M. Perito directs USIP's Security Sector Governance Center of Innovation. He also directs the Institute's Haiti program. He is an expert on security sector transformation and police reform in post-conflict societies and countries impacted by the Arab Spring. Before joining the Institute, he was a career foreign service officer with the Department of State, retiring with the rank of minister-counselor. He was deputy executive secretary of the National Security Council (1988-1989). Perito received a Presidential Meritorious Service Award in 1990 for leading the U.S. delegation in the Angola peace talks and two State Department superior honor awards.
Perito led the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program at the U.S. Department of Justice, which trained police in international peace operations (1995-2001). Perito was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nigeria (1965-67). Perito has taught at Princeton, American and George Mason universities. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Denver University and a master’s degree in peace operations policy from George Mason University.
Publications
- Police in War: Fighting Insurgency, Terrorism and Violent Crime, co-author with David Bayley, Lynne Rienner, 2010.
Multimedia
- PRTs in Iraq Improved Over Time (NPR's All Things Considered, December 12, 2011)
- The Quake (PBS's Frontline, March 30, 2010)
- "No End in Sight" (Robert Perito was interviewed in this documentary, which was nominated for an Academy Award and won an award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival)
- Gangs of Iraq (PBS's Frontline, April 17, 2007)
- "Truth, War and Consequences" (PBS's Frontline, September 5, 2003)
