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From: Fred Lafer, chairman; Howard Berkowitz, president; and Robert Satloff, executive director

Re: Dennis Ross and the presidential campaign

Date: March 4, 2008

On Saturday, March 1, a news story in the New York Times identified Ambassador Dennis Ross, counselor at The Washington Institute and Ziegler distinguished fellow, as an "adviser" to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. The implication of the article was that Ambassador Ross has endorsed Senator Obama or otherwise supports his campaign in an exclusive capacity.

In accordance with longstanding policy at The Washington Institute, Ambassador Ross -- like other senior fellows of the Institute -- has been encouraged to serve as a resource for presidential candidates and their campaigns. We believe this service contributes to ensuring the highest quality debate over foreign policy in our nation's presidential election campaign. It complements the important work of the Institute's Presidential Study Group initiative, which brings together foreign policy practitioners and advisors from various campaigns to discuss critical issues on the Middle East policy agenda.

In recent months, a number of candidates and their campaigns have sought Ambassador Ross's advice, including the Obama, Clinton, and Romney campaigns. The Obama campaign has turned to him most frequently and with some degree of regularity on Middle Eastern issues, and he has responded with his consistently insightful analysis and useful policy recommendations. He will continue to offer advice on the substantive issues of our foreign and national security policy to the Obama campaign -- and any other presidential campaign that requests it -- on a nonexclusive basis. In accordance with our organization's policy on nonpartisanship, Ambassador Ross has not endorsed any presidential candidate.