Friedberg to serve as deputy national security adviser to Cheney

Aaron Friedberg, a professor at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs , will join Vice President Dick Cheney's staff as a deputy national security adviser and director of policy planning. Friedberg, 47, will join Cheney's team in June 2003 for a term of one year, taking a public service leave from the University.

Friedberg, who has been at Princeton since 1987, holds a joint appointment as a professor of politics and international affairs in the Department of Politics and is the current director of the Woodrow Wilson School's Center of International Studies . He is the author of two books: one on U.S. Cold War strategy and a prize-winning book on Britain's decline at the turn of the 20th century. Friedberg's areas of expertise include international relations, international security, foreign policy and defense policy.

Friedberg has been a fellow at the Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Norwegian Nobel Institute and Harvard University's Center for International Affairs, and he has served as a consultant to several agencies of the U.S. government. From 2001-2002 he was the first holder of the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the U.S. Library of Congress.

Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman commented, "The vice president has made an excellent choice in selecting Professor Friedberg for this critical assignment. I know that the country will benefit from his insight and good judgment while he serves in this capacity, and upon his return to our faculty, the school and our students will benefit from the first-hand experience he will gain at the highest levels of our government."

"Aaron is an exceptional scholar and teacher," said Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School. "We are very sorry to see him go, particularly in light of his contributions as director of the Center of International Studies. But he is superbly qualified for this very important position."

As a faculty associate of the Woodrow Wilson School's Center of International Studies, Friedberg launched the Research Program in International Security in 1992. He was the center's acting director in 2000-2001 and has been director since July 2002. Friedberg holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University.

Contact: Eric Quinones (609) 258-3601