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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release October 28, 1999

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES EDWARD S. WALKER, JR. AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY IN THE

BUREAU OF NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS AT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

The President today announced his intention to nominate Edward S. Walker, Jr. to be Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Ambassador Edward S. Walker, of Maryland, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service Class of Minister Counselor, has been serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel since 1997. From 1994 to 1997, he served as United States Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt. He previously held the position of Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations with Ambassadorial rank from 1993 to 1994 and as United States Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates from 1989 to 1992 through the period of the Gulf War. Ambassador Walker has served extensively in the Middle East since his entry into the Foreign Service in 1967. During the course of his career, he has had tours in Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt and as Deputy Chief of Mission, at our Embassy in Saudi Arabia. His Washington assignments include two years as Special Assistant to the President's Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Negotiations from 1979 to 1981 and two years as Executive Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State from 1982 to 1984. In 1988, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Near East Bureau of the Department of State.

Ambassador Walker received his B.A. from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York in 1963 and his M.A. from Boston University in 1965. In 1985, he attended the Royal College of Defense Studies in London.

In his capacity as Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, Ambassador Walker is responsible for the general conduct of U.S. foreign relations with countries in the geographical division including: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

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