Wolfowitz Back in Bush Administration

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Wolfowitz Back in Bush Administration

James Joyner | Monday, December 3, 2007

Paul Wolfowitz is back in a prestigious international relations advisory post with the Bush administration, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff reports. He’ll chair the 18-member International Security Advisory Board, which “advises the Secretary of State on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters.”

Wolfowitz is a lightning rod, so it’s no surprise that the move is garnering criticism:

Although officials declined to say how Rice came to choose him, Wolfowitz began his government career in the 1970s in the State Department as an arms-control expert; he forged a relationship with Rice during the 2000 presidential campaign, when they both served as top foreign-policy advisers to the then candidate Bush. But his selection has raised more than a few eyebrows within State because he’ll be providing advice on some of the same issues that critics say the administration got spectacularly wrong when Wolfowitz was pushing the case for the Iraq War at the Pentagon. (One of the department sources called the appointment “amazing.”)

That’s rather a stretch. His failure to predict a massive insurgency in Iraq hardly trumps three decades of professional expertise.

For that matter, he’s filling a vacancy created by Fred Thompson’s resignation to run for president. Surely, Wolfowitz is better qualified than Thompson?

Via Memeorandum, which has other reactions. Photo via Relatos Comunes.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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