WASHINGTON – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, co-chairs of the Task Force on the United Nations, are scheduled to testify before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice and Commerce (SSJC) on Wednesday, June 22 at 10 a.m. in Room 2359 Rayburn House Office Building. SSJC Chairman Frank R. Wolf (R-VA), who authored the legislation mandating the report, will preside. Gingrich and Mitchell will discuss the findings and...

WASHINGTON – In a report released today, the Task Force on the United Nations recommends that the U.S. government endorse and call upon the UN and its members to “affirm a responsibility of every sovereign government to protect its own citizenry and those within its borders from genocide, mass killing, and massive and sustained human rights violations.” The report adds that the “United States should insist that states asserting an absolutist doctrine of non-intervention explain why they are p...

WASHINGTON - Richard H. Solomon, President of the U.S. Institute of Peace, announced today that Patricia Powers Thomson of IBM Business Consulting has been selected as the organization's next Executive Vice President.  As its second-ranking officer, Thomson will lead the Institute's internal management team, oversee and integrate substantive programs, and manage growth.  She will assume her position on August 1. "We are delighted that Trish is joining the Institute family.  She brings with h...

WASHINGTON – Fifty-one American high school students have been named winners of the 18th annual National Peace Essay Contest, sponsored by the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, DC.  Each student will receive a $1,000 college scholarship and compete for the 2005 national first prize, a $10,000 college scholarship.  A list of winners, their schools, hometowns, essay titles, and faculty coordinators follows this release. The contest, which is open to students in all American high ...

WASHINGTON – Acknowledging that the job will be difficult, the co-chairs of the Task Force on the United Nations expressed confidence on Friday, April 15, that the United Nations can be reformed. Following a meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said that several factors, in addition to the commitment of the U.S. Congress, have combined to put the previously elusive task of reforming the United Nation...

USIP mourns the passing of George Kennan, the architect of the policy of “containment,” which guided U.S. relations with the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. The Institute's best selling book Origins of the Cold War: The Novikov, Kennan, and Roberts 'Long Telegrams' of 1946 features Kennan's famous "Long Telegram."

WASHINGTON – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell criticized the government of the Republic of Sudan today for failing to issue visas to a member and staff of the Task Force on the United Nations. In a statement issued today, the co-chairs of the task force said they were “deeply distressed over the failure of the government of the Republic of Sudan to permit the travel.” The two noted that “despite having had more than ample time,” the Sudanese...

WASHINGTON—Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will lead a new task force that will assess UN effectiveness and recommend actions for the United States to take to strengthen the world body. Mandated by Congress in the FY2005 omnibus appropriations bill at the behest of Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), the task force will examine the extent to which the United Nations is fulfilling the goals of its Charter and offer recommendations for U.S. action in a r...