On Thursday, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing on threats and restrictions faced by human rights defenders and civil society. Congressman James McGovern (D-MA) chaired the hearing. Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) was also present. Panel one featured Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the State Department, Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Tomicah Tilleman, ...

On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia held a hearing entitled, "Assessing U.S. Foreign Policy Priories and Needs Amidst Economic Challenges in he Middle East." The committee heard testimony from Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Mara Rudman, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for the Middle East at USAID. Mark Ward, Deputy Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions ...

On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing to discuss U.S. policy options for Syria amid the recent developments of the deployment of U.N. monitors, a fragile ceasefire, and a continued humanitarian crisis. Presenting testimony was Professor of Middle East Studies at the NESA Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University Murhaf Jouejati, Director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic ...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on U.S. foreign policy options pertaining to Iran. The speakers were the Honorable Thomas R. Pickering, former under Secretary of State for political affairs and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, General James E. Cartwright, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mr. Karim Sadjadpour, senior associate at the Middle East Program Carnegie Endowment for International ...

On Tuesday, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing to examine the systemic and grave human rights abuses by the Syrian government, and the impact of those abuses on the Syrian people. Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) chaired the hearing. Congressman James McGovern (D-MA) and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) gave opening remarks. Panel one featured Ambassador Robert Ford as the witness, and Panel two featured Maria McFarland, deputy Washington ...

On Wednesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing to discuss the Syrian crisis. The Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and Ranking Member John McCain (R-AZ) gave opening statements. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey were the witnesses. For the full text of the hearing notes, continue reading below, or click here for the PDF Carl Levin, who described Bashar Al Assad’s ...

  Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved bipartisan legislation strengthening sanctions against the Syrian Regime. The Syrian Freedom Support Act, H.R. 2106, introduced in August, was authored by Committee Chairman lleana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) with U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY). The bill imposes new sanctions focusing on Syrian energy and financial sectors and weapon proliferation activities. The bill also contains human rights sanctions targeting top regime officials, including an amendment ...

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee heard testimony from Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford. The hearing addressed the growing concerns over developing events in Syria. Senator John Kerry (D – MA) presided over the committee, co-chaired by ranking member Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN). To read the full text of the hearing continue reading below, or click here for ...

On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee heard testimony from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about national security and the foreign policy priorities in the $51.6 billion fiscal year 2013 International Affairs budget. Senator John Kerry (D – MA) presided over the committee, which was co-chaired by Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN). To read the full text of the event notes, continue reading below or click here for the PDF   Senator John Kerry began by ...

On Wednesday, the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs within the House Appropriations Committee held a Budget Hearing for which Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was the witness. Chairwoman of the Subcommittee Kay Granger (R-TX) and ranking member Nita Lowey (D-NY) presided; Chairman of the Appropriations Committee Hal Rogers (R-KY) also gave an opening statement. For the full text of the hearing, continue reading below or click here ...

On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on the issue of U.S. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority and more broadly, to the United Nations. For full event notes, continue reading. Or, click here for the PDF. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) chaired the committee hearing and opened the hearing with an opening statement. Ros-Lehtinen stated that the purpose of the hearing was to “address the troubling turn of events ...

On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia held the first in a proposed series of hearings entitled, “Shifting Sands: Political Transitions in the Middle East.” Testimony was given by a panel featuring, Elliott Cohen, Ph.D, Professor of Strategic Studies at The Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, J. Scott Carpenter, Keston Family Fellow at Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and ...

The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing to discuss changes in the direction of Turkish foreign policy and their effects on U.S.-Turkey. In particular, the hearing focused on shifts in policy toward Iran, Israel, and Palestine of concern to policymakers. To discuss these issues, the full committee-- chaired by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), with ranking member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) in attendance --requested the testimony of four ...

The Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs held a public hearing addressing corruption in Afghanistan. The committee, headed by Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey (D-NY), requested the testimony of two witnesses: Richard C. Holbrooke, Ambassador and Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; and Dr. Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator. (POMED's full notes continue below or view them as a pdf) In her opening ...

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing yesterday to consider nominees for ambassadorial positions in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Turkey. Many of the questions posed by the Committee focused on democratization, human rights, governance, and institution building. The Committee—headed by Chairman Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and ranking Committee member Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-IN) —requested the testimony of four nominees. The first panel consisted of James ...

(POMED’s full notes continue below, or read the rest of the entry as a pdf document.) Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) opened the conversation with an aside on the war in Afghanistan, in light of the recent blow-up between the White House and General Stanley McChrystal. Kerry stated that America’s “top priority” is the success of its mission in Afghanistan and implored the concerned parties to remain focused on U.S. ...

General McChrystal and Ambassador Eikenberry testified about the new Afghan strategy before the Armed Service Committees in both the House and Senate yesterday. They will continue their testimony on the Hill both today and tomorrow. According to Chris Good at The Atlantic, General McChrystal's prediction of success in Afghanistan was couched in "a healthy amount of humility." McChrystal argued that a combination of the resolve of the Afghans, the unpopularity of the Taliban, ...