A generous gift from Robert E Wilhelm supports an annual fellowship for an individual who has held senior positions in public life. By bringing real world experience and new scholarship to CIS, these fellows are a vital part of our research community. Working together with our scholars and students, they help facilitate and augment research that addresses policy-relevant problems.

2024-2025

John Githongo

Githongo was a journalist and became a leading light in the Transparency movement in Kenya and has held a variety of government, non-government and academic appointments.

2021-2022

Steven Simon

Steven Simon was senior director for the Middle East and North Africa during the Obama administration and was the NSC senior director for counterterrorism in the Clinton White House.

2019-2020

Hala Aldosari

Hala Aldosari is a Saudi scholar and activist, widely respected for her work on women’s rights in Arab societies, violence against women, and the “guardianship” system in Saudi Arabia.

2018-2019

Admiral Scott H Swift

Scott Swift was a US navy admiral, commander of the Seventh Fleet and later commander of the US Pacific Fleet.

2017-2018

Judge James E Baker

James Baker was chief judge of the US Court of Appeals for the armed forces for 15 years, and was special assistant to the president and legal adviser to the National Security Council.

2016-2017

Lourdes Melgar

Lourdes Melgar was Mexico’s former deputy secretary of energy for hydrocarbons, under-secretary for electricity, and a board member of the Federal Electricity Commission.

October-November 2016

Mona Makram-Ebeid

Mona Makram-Ebeid was a member of parliament and senator in Egypt. She is a distinguished lecturer at the American University of Cairo.

2015-2016

Paul Heer

Paul Heer was national intelligence officer for East Asia in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from 2007 to 2015.

February 2015

Shivshankar Menon

Shivshankar Menon served as national security adviser of India, foreign secretary high commissioner to Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and ambassador to China and Israel.

2014-2016

Joel Brenner

Joel Brenner was head of counterintelligence for the director of national intelligence, senior counsel of the National Security Agency (NSA).

April 2014

Ranil Wickremesinghe

Ranil Wickremesinghe served as prime minister of Sri Lanka four times beginning in 1993 and was recently appointed prime minister for the fifth time in 2022.

2012-2020

Yukio Okamoto

Yukio Okamoto was a longtime Japanese diplomat and adviser to several prime ministers, including as chairman of the prime minister’s task force on foreign relations.

2011-2012

Abbas Maleki

Abbas Maleki was deputy foreign minister of Iran from 1980 to 1997, and chairman of the International Institute for Caspian Studies.

2011-2012

Hans-Georg Eichler

Hans-Georg Eichler MD is the senior medical officer at the European Medicines Agency in London, where he coordinates scientific committees and advises on scientific and public health issues.

April 2011

Rt Hon David Miliband MP

David Miliband was foreign secretary of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010.

2008-2009

Admiral William J Fallon

William Fallon was an admiral in the US navy and head of the Pacific Command and the Central Command.

2006-2007

Barbara Bodine

Barbara Bodine was US ambassador to Yemen and served in several capacities throughout the Persian Gulf.

2006-2007

Francis Mading Deng

Francis Deng was foreign minister of Sudan, and held several posts at the United Nations, including under-secretary general for the prevention of genocide.

2004-2005

Naomi Chazan

Naomi Chazan was deputy speaker of the Knesset, and has been particularly active worldwide on human rights and women’s rights.