Ambassador Samuel W. Lewis Calls for Congressional Funding for USIP
Former President of the United States Institute of Peace, Ambassador Samuel W. Lewis called on Congress to fund the Congressionally created organization that supports international conflict prevention, management, and resolution.
For Immediate Release, March 23, 2011
Contact: Allison Sturma, 202-429-4725
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| Charles Nelson (left) speaks with Amb. Sam Lewis and Sallie Lewis |
(Washington) - Former President of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Ambassador Samuel W. Lewis called on Congress to fund the congressionally created organization that supports international conflict prevention, management, and resolution.
"A time of war is not a time to eliminate an institution that is training conflict managers in Iraq, Afghanistan and all over the world," Lewis said, after visiting the new headquarters of USIP. "America needs this nonpartisan center of international engagement which is positioning our country as a leader in making peace. Defunding it sends the entirely wrong signal."
Lewis served as the President of USIP for five years beginning in 1987, three years after President Ronald Reagan signed the legislation creating USIP into law. His service continued until 1992 when he took over as Director of the Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff. With 31 years of service as a career diplomat, Ambassador Lewis had tours of duty in Italy, Brazil, Afghanistan, Israel and Washington. He served as Ambassador to Israel for eight years under Presidents Carter and Reagan, a period spanning the negotiation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and the 1982 Lebanon War.
Since retiring from the Foreign Service in 1985, Lewis has been closely affiliated with various organizations including the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as Counselor, the Brookings Institution, the Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute, and with research centers at Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has been a Visiting Professor of International Relations at Hamilton College and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. Currently he serves on the United States Institute of Peace Senior Working Group on Middle East Peace co-chaired by former national security advisers Samuel R. Berger and Stephen J. Hadley.
Ambassador Lewis has received six honorary doctoral degrees and numerous other honors and awards.
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The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) provides the analysis, training and tools that help to prevent, manage and end violent international conflicts, promote stability and professionalize the field of peacebuilding.
