Middle East Expert and Former White House Official Eric Pelofsky Joins The Washington Institute

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Eric Pelofsky, a former special assistant to the President and senior director for North Africa and Yemen at the National Security Council, has joined The Washington Institute for Near East Policy as a visiting fellow, the research organization announced today. Pelofsky has served in the executive and legislative branches over 16 years across three Administrations.

"As we have seen in the first weeks of the Trump presidency, issues across the Middle East remain at the top of the U.S. foreign policy agenda," said Robert Satloff, Institute Executive Director and the Howard P. Berkowitz Chair in U.S. Middle East Policy. "Eric brings to the Institute unique insight on two critical flashpoints - Yemen and North Africa - as well as a broader understanding of the Middle East policy-making process that will enrich our all of our analysis. His experiences in the Gulf region and with the evolution of Tunisia’s democratic transition will contribute to our efforts at the Institute as well."

"I am very pleased to join the Institute and will continue my efforts to advance U.S. interests in the Middle East," said Pelofsky, who will work in the Institute's Program on Arab Politics. "In public service, I long valued the analysis and ideas coming from the Institute and I now look forward to working with Institute experts as colleagues to continue to inform the public debate on these critical issues."

Prior to leaving the government in January 2017, Pelofsky served in high-level foreign policy positions at home and abroad. Before joining the National Security Council staff, he was a senior advisor to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, a professional staff member on the Select Senate Intelligence Committee, an attorney in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, and deputy general counsel for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, Iraq.

A graduate of Haverford College, Pelofsky received his masters of public policy from Georgetown University and his law degree from Cornell Law School. Before joining the State Department in 2000, he worked at the law firm White & Case LLP in its corporate and financial services practice.

About the Washington Institute: The Washington Institute is an independent, nonpartisan research institution funded exclusively by U.S. citizens that seeks to advance a balanced and realistic understanding of American interests in the Middle East and to promote the policies that secure them. Drawing on the research of its fellows and the experience of its policy practitioners, the Institute promotes informed debate and scholarly research on U.S. policy in the region.

Media Contact: Ian Byrne, 202-452-0650, email.