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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release March 17, 1994

STATEMENT BY THE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

The White House today announced the appointment of Thomas B. Ross as Special Assistant to the President, Senior Director for Public Affairs at the National Security Council and Deputy White House Press Secretary. The appointment will become effective April 4.

Mr. Ross is currently Senior Vice President and Worldwide Media Director for Hill and Knowlton, the international public relations firm. Previously, he was Senior Vice President of NBC News and Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs of RCA.

Under the Carter Administration, Mr. Ross served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Pentagon spokesman from 1977 to 1981. Before serving in this role, he was Washington correspondent, foreign correspondent and Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Mr. Ross is a graduate of Yale and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He served as a naval officer on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific during the Korean conflict.

The White House also announced that Donald Steinberg has been named as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. Mr. Steinberg, who has been serving in the NSC press job, has a long career in African affairs, including Foreign Service assignments in South Africa (1990-93), Mauritius (1984-86) and the Central African Republic (1976-78).

A minister-counselor in the State Department, Mr. Steinberg served as Senior Advisor for Foreign Affairs and Defense to House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, Director of the House Task Force on Trade and Competitiveness, and acting Chief Textile Negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

He is a three-time recipient of the State Department's Superior Honor Award and has received numerous other awards, including the Pulitzer Fellowship and Hough Award for Excellence in Print from Columbia University Journalism School. A graduate of Reed College, he has graduate degrees from University of Toronto and Columbia University.

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