Wilson Center Names Ambassador David Hale as Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Ryan McKenna
Phone: (202) 691-4217
Ryan.McKenna@wilsoncenter.org

May 19, 2021

WASHINGTON -- The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue, announced today that Ambassador David Hale has joined as a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow on detail from the State Department.

While at the Center, Ambassador Hale will be working on a book on Lebanon and affiliated with the Middle East Program, providing analysis and research which will inform policymaking on issues in the wider Middle East and North Africa region.

"I am delighted to welcome Ambassador David Hale to The Wilson Center,” said Ambassador Mark Green, Wilson Center President, Director and CEO. “As a career Ambassador and former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, his vast knowledge and expertise in foreign policy will greatly benefit our mission of bridging the world of policy and ideas together for the common good."

Ambassador Hale most recently as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Previously, he was the Ambassador to Pakistan (2015-18), Ambassador to Lebanon (2013-15), Special Envoy for Middle East Peace (2011-2013), Deputy Special Envoy (2009-11), and Ambassador to Jordan (2005-8).

“David’s extraordinary experience at the highest levels of foreign policy,” said Ambassador James Jeffrey, Chair of the Middle East Program. “His renowned integrity, work with both Democratic and Republican administrations, and broad range of contacts in the US Government, Congress, Europe and the Middle East will enrich the Wilson Center’s and its Middle Eastern Program’s bipartisan engagement with and analysis of events within the region.”  

Hale joined the Foreign Service in 1984 and holds the rank of Career Ambassador. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, a Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Service, and several Department Superior and Meritorious Honor awards. He speaks Arabic, is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a native of New Jersey.

The Wilson Center is ranked one of the top think tanks in the world by the University of Pennsylvania.  

Notes to editors:

The Wilson Center provides a strictly nonpartisan space for the worlds of policymaking and scholarship to interact. By conducting relevant and timely research and promoting dialogue from all perspectives, it works to address the critical current and emerging challenges confronting the United States and the world.

Middle East Program serves as a crucial resource for the policymaking community and beyond, providing analyses and research that helps inform U.S. foreign policymaking, stimulates public debate, and expands knowledge about issues in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.