Jeffrey D. Feltman

Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (Since December 2008)

(AFP/Getty Images)

Why He Matters

In his more than 20 years as a diplomat, Feltman has helped develop America's post-Cold War international strategy, participated in part of the Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations and headed the Coalitional Provisional Authority's office in Iraq.

Now, the career foreign service officer, who speaks French, Arabic, and Hungarian, has been tapped by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, where he oversees the delicate U.S. relationship with such conflict-ridden countries as Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. Some of those countries have also been linked to terrorism.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (Feb. 2008-Dec. 2008); U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon (2005 to 2008); Coalition Provisional Authority's (CPAs) office in Iraq (2004 to 2005)
Alma Mater: Ball State University, B.A., 1981; Tufts University, M.A. 1983

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Path to Power

Feltman earned his undergraduate degree in history and fine arts from Ball State University in 1981. He graduated from Tufts University with a master's degree in law and diplomacy two years later.

Feltman joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1986. He started his career in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He called his first assignment a ''problem post'' because of the large number of Haitians who use counterfeit documents to enter the United States, and spent months boning up on spotting fake passports and visas.

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The Issues

Throughout his career, Feltman has specialized in economic issues and in negotiating thorny peace agreements. In the last several years, he has worked in several Middle Eastern countries, and is an expert on the troubled region.

Lebanon

Feltman holds up Lebanon as a model for Middle Eastern countries aiming to democratize. He was supportive of the 2005 Cedar Revolution, a chain of demonstrations against Syria after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He said the efforts allowed Lebanon to enlist "the power and prestige of the United States and many other countries on behalf of democratic and independent Lebanon. You have made us believers in your vision."

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Feltman hails Syria's retreat from Lebanon after the Cedar Revolution as a significant victory and said Iran and Syria have teamed up to undermine Lebanon's democracy, a strategy, Feltman says, that is "destined to fail."

Feltman is fiercely critical of the terrorist group Hezbollah, which he views as a threat to democracy. At a 2008 hearing, he accused the group of "dragging Lebanon into war with Israel in 2006 [and] undermining legitimate institutions of the government of Lebanon and seeking to create a state within a state there."

Iran

Feltman has said he is "deeply concerned" with the Iranian government's treatment of its citizens and its "malign" influence in the region. "Iran poses multiple, multiple threats to U.S. interests," he said at a 2008 Congressional hearing. "It destabilizes its neighbors, it is the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism, [it] continues the oppression of Iranian civil society, and I add [that] Iranian-funded militias, Iranian-funded weaponry are killing our troops and diplomats in Iraq."

Feltman is, like most U.S. officials, opposed to Iran's attempts to procure nuclear weapons. He supports a two-track strategy towards Iran's nuclear ambitions, stressing diplomacy along with sanctions. However, for the talks to succeed, Feltman believes the U.S. must have the support of its Persian Gulf allies and a clear agenda.

Feltman also called Iran a major threat to stability in Iraq, saying that Tehran undermines Iraq's elected officials by supporting violent Shiite militias.

Human Rights

Feltman has decried Iran's treatment of its citizens as a human rights abuse. "The regime regularly commits torture and other forms of inhumane treatment on its own people, and restricts the basic freedoms of expression, press, religion, and assembly in order to discourage political opposition," he said at a 2008 Congressional hearing.

Feltman pointed specifically to Iran's purge of liberal university professors and the torture and imprisonment of bloggers, journalists, women's rights activists and labor leaders. He is also critical of the Iranian regime's attempts to block the free flow of information through its borders.

The Network

Feltman worked with John Wolfe and Daniel Kurtzer on Clinton 's Camp David Accords in the late 1990s. In Syria, he will be working with diplomat and Obama supporter Daniel Shapiro .

In February 2009, he served as the State Department's envoy to Syria along with White House aide Daniel Shapiro.

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