Your News Source for the Hilltop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2003

Former Chief of Mission to Iraq to speak at Birmingham-Southern College

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Ambassador Edward L. Peck, former U.S. chief of mission to Iraq, will be the guest speaker at a Provost's Forum scheduled for Monday, April 7, at Birmingham-Southern College. The lecture will be at 4 p.m. in Hill Recital Hall.

Peck's foreign service has included chief of mission in Iraq and Mauritania, and as embassy officer in Sweden, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Egypt. He also served in the State Department as deputy coordinator, Covert Intelligence Programs; special assistant to the under secretary for political affairs; and director of the Office of Egyptian Affairs. He served in the White House as deputy director of the Cabinet Task Force on Terrorism. At the Pentagon, he was liaison officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and fellow at the Institute for Higher Defense Studies. He was a U.S. Army paratrooper from 1946-49.

He currently is a trainer, lecturer, and consultant for governments, businesses, and education and civic institutions in the U.S. and abroad, as well as a commentator on the Middle East, terrorism, and other foreign affairs issues for American and foreign television and radio networks. He is president of Foreign Services International.

His speaking and training have included assignments for many government agencies including the CIA, FBI, Federal Emergency Management Agency, J.F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center, and the Joint Special Operations School.

Peck received his bachelor's degree from the University of California at Los Angeles and his master's degree from George Washington University.

For more information, call 226-4831.