Lee H. Hamilton
Woodrow Wilson Center
Washington, DC/USA
Lee H. Hamilton is president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and director of The Center on Congress at Indiana University. Hamilton served for 34 years in Congress representing Indiana's Ninth District, from January 1965 to January 1999. During his tenure, he served as chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (now the Committee on International Relations), chaired the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East from the early 1970s until 1993, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. Hamilton also served as chair of the Joint Economic Committee, working to promote long-term economic growth and development. As chairman of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress and a member of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee, Hamilton was a primary draftsman of several House ethics reforms.
Since leaving the House, Hamilton has served as a commissioner on the United States Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (the Hart-Rudman Commission), and was co-chair with former Senator Howard Baker of the Baker-Hamilton Commission to Investigate Certain Security Issues at Los Alamos. Recently, Mr. Hamilton served as Vice-Chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission), and co-chaired with Governor Thomas Kean the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, to monitor implementation of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations. Hamilton was also recently a member of the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform.
Hamilton is currently a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Advisory Board, the Director of Central Intelligence's Economic Intelligence Advisory Panel, the Secretary of Defense's National Security Study Group, and the US Department of Homeland Security Task Force on Preventing the Entry of Weapons of Mass Effect on American Soil. In March 2006, he was named co-chair along with James A. Baker of the Iraq Study Group, a forward-looking, bi-partisan assessment of the situation in Iraq created at the urging of Congress.
Hamilton is a graduate of DePauw University and Indiana University School of Law. He is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and national awards for public service, including the Voices of September 11 Building Bridges Award, the US Capitol Historical Society 2005 Freedom Award, the Paul H. Douglas Ethics in Government Award, and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute Freedom From Fear Award.
Before his election to Congress, Hamilton practiced law in Chicago, Illinois and Columbus, Indiana. Hamilton is the author of A Creative Tension - The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress and How Congress Works and Why You Should Care.
Books
- Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission. (Coauthored with Thomas Kean) New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
- How Congress Works and Why You Should Care. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.
- A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and the Congress. (Coauthored with Jordan Tama). Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2002.
Reports
- Iraq Study Group. The Iraq Study Group Report. Washington, DC (2006).
- National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The 9/11 Commission Report. Washington, DC: GPO, 2004.
- United States Commission on National Security in the 21st Century. Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change. Washington, DC (January 2001).
Selected Publications
- "America Must Listen to World yet Stay Committed to Values," The Indianapolis Star, September 26, 2005.
- "New Terrorism Description Defines What We're Fighting," The Indianapolis Star, August 29, 2005.
- "The Right Way to Protect America," Woodrow Wilson Center Commentary, July 28, 2005.
- "Securing the Homeland," Woodrow Wilson Center Commentary, April 11, 2005.
- "There's No End to the Threat from Terrorist Weapons," The Indianapolis Star, January 31, 2005.
- "Assorted Faces of Terrorism Must Be Met with an Iron Fist," The Indianapolis Star, September 27, 2004.
- "Terrorism and the American Public," Woodrow Wilson Center Commentary, July 15, 2004.
- "A Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Strategy," The Indianapolis Star, June 21, 2004.
- "A Battle Against Ideology, Not a Single Terrorist Group," The Indianapolis Star, May 24, 2004.
- "U.S. Must Build Alliance with Peaceful Muslims," The Indianapolis Star, April 26, 2004.