The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on the proposed FY2014 International Affairs budget titled “National Security and Foreign Policy Priorities in the FY2014 International Affairs Budget.” Secretary of State John Kerry testified and Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) presided. For full event notes continue reading or click here for the PDF. Senator Menendez opened the hearing by reminding the committee of the importance of America’s international leadership despite budgetary constraints. ...

On Tuesday, February 26, the United States House Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa held a hearing entitled “Demonstrations in Tahrir Square: Two Years Later, What has Changed?” to discuss US policy toward Egypt in light of the country’s recent political turmoil. The subcommittee heard testimony from Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations; Katrina Lantos Swett, Chair of the US Committee ...

POMED's Weekly Wire for the week of January 28 is now available. This week's edition covers these and other highlights: Jordan Election Turnout Exceeds 50 Percent, MB Boycotts Sec. Clinton Testifies on Benghazi, Kerry Confirmation Hearing Commences Protests Mark Egypt Revolution Anniversary; State of Emergency Declared World Bank Approves $500m Loan to Tunisia Iraq: Seven Protesters, Two Police Killed in Protests To continue reading the full Weekly Wire, click here.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Thursday (12/20) entitled “Benghazi: The Attack and the Lessons Learned.” The hearing featured testimony by William Burns, Deputy Secretary of State, and Thomas Nides, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, with Senator John Kerry (D-MA) presiding. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was originally scheduled to appear, but was unable to attend due to illness. For full notes continue reading, or ...

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hosted a hearing on Wednesday (10/10) entitled "The Security Failures of Benghazi." The witnesses included Charlene Lamb, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Department of State; Eric Nordstrom, Regional Security Officer, U.S. Department of State; Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, Utah National Guard, U.S. Army; and Ambassador Patrick Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management, U.S. Department of State. For full ...

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing on the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI). The hearing consisted of three panels. The first panel featured Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). The second panel featured Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. The third panel consisted of: Matar Ebrahim Matar, former member of Bahrain’s Parliament; Leslie Campbell, senior ...

On Wednesday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the conflict in Syria and how the U.S. should or should not respond. Witnesses included the Honorable Martin Indyk, Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy for the Brookings Institution; the Honorable James Dobbins, Director of International Security and Defense Policy Center for the Rand Corporation; and Andrew Tabler, Senior Fellow in the Program on Arab Politics at the ...

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on the topic of corruption within the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Fatah party. Rep. Steve Chabot chaired the hearing, with Reps. Gary Ackerman, Ted Deutch, Gerry Connolly, and Tom Marino also present. Testifying witnesses included Elliott Abrams, Jonathan Schanzer, and Jim Zanotti. For full event notes, continue reading below or click here.  Chabot began the hearing by stating that the purpose of ...

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 ...