Monday, June 30, 2014

Mideast Peace Envoy Returns to Brookings


Martin Indyk, US Special Envoy for Israel-Palestinian Negotiations, will return to his previous post at the Brookings Institution as Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy after announcing his resignation from the State Department post after about one year.

Indyk will re-assume his duties at Brookings on July 1, 2014.  He had taken a leave of absence from the think tank after being appointed last year by Secretary of State John Kerry to be the special envoy.  Ted Piccone, currently the Acting Vice President and Director of of the Foreign Policy Program, will become a full-time Senior Fellow.

It sounds like a return to think tank land will be a piece of cake for Indyk, who was admittedly battered by tough Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during the past nine months.

In the other direction of the revolving door, Brookings scholar Karen Dynan will be going to the Treasury Department after being recently confirmed by the Senate for a top economist slot.

Update: The New York Times reports that Indyk still has a chance of returning to the position he just stepped down from, even though he is returning to think tank land.  Mr. Indyk reportedly has filled out forms that will allow him to hold on to his security clearance and continue advising the administration, even while at Brookings.