The Darien Times

Foreign policy expert is next in DCA’s Arab lecture series

Written by The Darien Times
Monday, January 09, 2012 07:00 AM

The second speaker of this year's DCA lecture series, After the Arab Spring, What Next?, is Michael Singh, the managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council. Singh's specialties are Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Nuclear Proliferation, Economic Development, American Foreign Policy, and National Security Decision making.

Singh's address begins at 10 on Thursday morning, Jan. 12, presented by the committee of the Darien Community Association Academic Lecture Series on Global Issues Committee.

Singh is an expert in U.S. foreign policy with a particular emphasis on the Middle East, and has nearly a decade of public service at the State Department and the White House. As the Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, he leads a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank. He writes and speaks on many foreign policy topics. During his three years at the White House, Singh was responsible for devising and implementing strategies on a wide range of Middle East issues, from the Arab-Israeli peace process, to supporting Lebanon's Cedar Revolution, to the efforts to prevent Iran's acquisition of nuclear-weapons capability.

Before his time at the NCS, Singh served as special assistant to Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell. In addition, he served at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv as a staff assistant to the then ambassador Daniel Curter. After nearly eight year in the foreign service, Mr. Singh left government in August 2008.

A member of the Harvard International Review's Board of Advisors, Singh has written extensively on Iran, Israeli Palestinian conflict, and U.S. national security strategy and management. His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, World Affairs, the American Interest, Economist, Foreign Affairs on Line and other publications. He is a regular contributor to Foreign.Policy.com, and appears frequently in national and global media outlets such as Fox News, CBS, NBC, and the BBC. Mr. Singh has taught economics at Harvard University, served as an adjunct fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and directed the Kennedy School Iran Negotiations Working Group. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Singh has an MBA Harvard University (Baker Scholar) and a BA Princeton University He currently resides in Boston.