WASHINGTON – The Atlantic Council today appointed The Honorable Ellen Tauscher as Vice Chair-designate of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, which will be inaugurated later this year. The State Department announced yesterday that Tauscher has stepped down as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, but that she will continue to provide expert advice to the State Department on arms control, missile defense, and civil nuclear cooperation.

Tauscher brings to the Atlantic Council a range of experience in nonproliferation, arms control, arms transfers, and other key international security issues through her more than fifteen years in public service. “Ellen is one of America’s most respected and capable leaders. The Atlantic Council is very fortunate to have her involved in the Scowcroft Center,” said Senator Chuck Hagel, chairman of the board of the Atlantic Council.

Said General James L. Jones (Ret.), former national security advisor to President Obama and director-designate of the Scowcroft Center, “Ellen brings just the sort of expertise we need at the founding moment of the Scowcroft Center, including impressive knowledge of an array of strategic issues that are crucial to the future of NATO and global security.”

Tauscher will continue to serve the State Department on a part-time basis, working on strategic security issues in the United States’ relationship with the Russian Federation. Following Senate confirmation, Tauscher was sworn in as Under Secretary in June 2009. She previously represented California’s tenth Congressional District for thirteen years in the US House of Representatives, and was the only member of Congress to have two national defense laboratories in her district. She chaired the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces and was a senior member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. She also chaired the New Democrat Coalition, a group of more than sixty centrist House Democrats. Before her public service career, Tauscher worked for fourteen years in the private sector, and was one of the first women to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.

Upon its formal launch later this year, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security will pay tribute to former two-time US National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft by significantly expanding the Council’s capacity to provide thought leadership on the current and future global security challenges facing the Atlantic community and other regional allies and partners. Building on the Atlantic Council’s nonpartisan tradition and rich transatlantic heritage, the Center will bring new global partners into analysis and policy debates. The addition of Secretary Tauscher to this effort will allow the Atlantic Council to work even more closely with the defense and foreign policy establishments of the United States and its allies.

Secretary Tauscher will serve as Vice Chair with Mr. George Lund, Chairman of Torch Hill Investments. The Scowcroft Center Chairman-designate is General James L. Jones (Ret.).

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