Liz Cheney

Elizabeth Cheney
Born	(1966-07-28) July 28, 1966
Education	Colorado College University of Chicago Law School
Occupation	attorney
Spouse	Philip Perry
Children	5
Parent(s)	Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney

Elizabeth Cheney Perry (born July 28, 1966), commonly called Liz, is an American attorney. During the George W. Bush administration years, she held positions in the State Department of the United States. She has been politically active on behalf of the Republican Party and is a co-founder of Keep America Safe.

She is the daughter of former Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney.

Personal life

Cheney is the elder of two daughters of former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Second Lady Lynne Cheney; her younger sister is Mary Cheney. Cheney graduated from McLean High School in 1984, where she was a cheerleader. She received her bachelor's degree from Colorado College, where she wrote her senior thesis, "The Evolution of Presidential War Powers," in 1988. She received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1996, having also taken courses in Middle Eastern history at the Oriental Institute.

Cheney is married to Philip Perry, the former General Counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security. She and Perry have five children: three daughters, Kate, Elizabeth, and Grace; and two sons, Philip and Richard.

Early career

Before attending law school, Cheney worked for the State Department for five years and the U.S. Agency for International Development between 1989 and 1993. After 1993, she took a job at Armitage Associates LLP, the consulting firm founded by Richard Armitage, then a former Defense Department official and Iran-Contra operative who later served as Deputy Secretary of State.

After graduating from law school, Cheney practiced law in the private sector (at the law firm of White & Case) and as an international law attorney and consultant at the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group. She has also served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State for Assistance to the former Soviet Union, and as a USAID officer in U.S. embassies in Budapest and Warsaw.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

In 2002, Cheney was appointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, a pre-existing vacant post with an "economic portfolio," which is a mandate to promote investment in the region. Amid reports, including a New York Times editorial by Paul Krugman, saying that the job was created especially for her, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that she had come recommended by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell. The Times (London) reported that Cheney's appointment was "the most intriguing sign that America is getting serious about Middle East reform" and that the appointment was "a measure of the seriousness with which the administration was taking Middle East programmes for literacy, education, and reform." The appointment followed publicized policy divisions between the Vice President's office and the State Department on Middle East policy. In that position, she was given control of the Middle East Partnership Initiative, designed to "foster increased democracy and economic progress in a troubled region." The program spent $29 million in 2002, increased to $129 million in the following year. Cheney's task was to channel money to pre-screened groups, some of which were not identified publicly for fear of retaliations from extant governments they sought to undermine. For the budget year 2004, the project sought $145 million.

2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign

After two years of service, Cheney left her first State Department post in 2003 to serve in her father's re-election campaign. Participating in the "W Stands for Women" initiative to target female voters, Cheney spoke often of how women have enlarged their scope of political issues, invoking the September 11 attacks and "security."

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State For Near Eastern Affairs

In February 2005, she returned to the US State Department and was appointed the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State For Near Eastern Affairs and Coordinator for Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiatives. In this position, Cheney supported the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, C. David Welch, and coordinated U.S. multilateral efforts to promote and support democracy, expanded education and economic opportunities in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Her position made her the second-ranking U.S. diplomat for the Middle East. Cheney oversaw the launch of two semi-independent foundations, the Fund of the Future (worth $100 million), to provide capital for small businesses and the Foundation of the Future (worth $55 million), to promote freedom of the press and democracy. In that capacity, Cheney endorsed a controversial draft of a new Iraqi constitution. In November 2005, Cheney was questioned by Ysemink Congar of Turkish CNN that there was "a lot of skepticism building about the U.S. advocacy for democracy and human rights, based on a recent Washington Post story on "black sites" operated by the U.S. and the CIA in some of the countries receiving MEPI support:

Congar: If you were addressing the skeptics today, directly, what would you say to them? Why should they believe that the U.S. is genuinely advocating — supporting democracy and human rights in the region? And why should they — I mean, I'm talking about the grassroots now — why shuld they enthusiastically endorse the Forum for the Future? Thank you.

Cheney: I'll go first. You know, this is a question that I think has come up ever since we first began supporting democratic activities in the region back in 2002. And what I would say is judge us by our actions, you know. Judge us by the extent to which we really are standing with the people who are working for freedom. Judge us by the extent to which we are supporting NGOs with our money and with our back, you know, with our technical assistance. Judge us by the extent to which, you know, our Secretary of State goes to Cairo and makes a speech in Cairo in the heart of the broader Middle East about the importance of freedom and the importance of people being able to express their own wills and desires.

So, you know, yes, I think there is skepticism. I think that there is disagreement about policies. I think some of that comes from a misunderstanding of American policies. But at the end of the day, I think that the idea of skepticism is, frankly, a little bit overblown. I mean, my sense is that it's become conventional wisdom among elites that there are skeptics. There certainly are some skeptics, but there are certainly millions and millions of people across the broader Middle East who are participating with us in projects, that are providing training and skills and how you operate in a political — in a democratic environment. And who very much appreciate and feel protected by the fact that the United States is standing with them, you know.So there will always be skeptics, but I would watch what we do and watch also what we say about these issues.

At the same briefing, Cheney was asked by Tarek Rashad of the Middle East News Agency about the "paradox" of the MEPI funding NGO's supporting democracy and human rights would be "rallying in fact against the regimes and the governments in the region. Cheney answered that contributions to the Foundation had come from governments, but the foundation would not include government officers on its board or as its chairman, that "no government entities will be in either position."

Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group

Elizabeth Cheney also headed the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group (ISOG), established in March 2006, a unit within the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.

In April 2006, The New York Times published a story critical of Cheney's work, particularly with respect to Iran. Of particular scrutiny was a grants program administered by Elizabeth Cheney's unit, in collaboration with a Republican-affiliated foundation, the International Republican Institute. The Times maintained that when the group became controversial, with critics saying that it was plotting covert actions that could escalate into war with Iran and Syria, the group was disbanded, by May 2006. Shortly before the ISOG group was dissolved, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice initiated a major effort to engage Iran and Syria in efforts to stabilize Iraq. As late as April 11, 2009, Iranian officials investigating "cyber-crimes" cited Cheney's efforts in the daily newspaper Iran, specifically the "Democracy Program" [sic] initiative as parallel to a Netherlands-funded push for a "velvet revolution" accomplished by a media campaign to polarize the country, "despite the 1981 Algiers Accords signed between the U.S. and Iran in the aftermath of the U.S. embassy takeover in Tehran."

2008 Republican presidential campaigns

Cheney signed on in June 2007 to serve as one of three national co-chairs for Fred Thompson's 2008 presidential campaign. The other co-chairs were Spencer Abraham and George Allen. In a press release issued at the beginning of his campaign, Thompson said he was "very pleased to announce that former Senators Abraham and Allen, as well as Liz Cheney, will serve as co-chairs of my national leadership team." Thompson added: "These distinguished individuals bring wise counsel and invaluable experience to my campaign leadership team, and they will play a critical role in helping spread my consistent conservative message across America." After Thompson dropped out of the race, Cheney announced on January 27, 2008 that she would work for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, serving as a senior foreign policy advisor.

Public appearances and publications

In the years following her second departure from the State Department, Liz Cheney played an increasingly public role as a spokeswoman for conservative Republican issues, making numerous appearances on cable news shows. In October 2009, Cheney became a regular "Fox News Contributor" for the Fox News Network, appearing with shows hosted by Sean Hannity, Greta Van Susteren, and Chris Wallace.

• In late January 2007, Cheney penned an editorial in The Washington Post criticizing Senator Hillary Clinton's position on the Iraq war.

• In August 2008, the New York Times reported that Liz Cheney was encouraging her father to write a book on his political career, and that she was indexing her father's pre-vice-presidential papers housed in various libraries across the country, "drafting timetables and outlines for his review." The Times cited Liz Cheney on April 24, 2009, as the source of information that Dick Cheney had requested that the National Archives declassify two documents that would prove the efficacy of "enhanced interrogation techniques" in handling of U.S. detainees.

• In the time following her departure from the State Department, Cheney became more outspoken in her criticisms of the Bush administration's foreign policy, particularly of the State Department's renewed efforts to conduct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and efforts to enlist Iran's aid in stabilizing Iraq.

• In 2008, Cheney was listed on the speakers roster of Leading Authorities, Inc., a talent management and booking agent. Cheney gives paid public lectures on international relations and the role of women in emerging democracies.

• On April 23, 2009, days after the release of controversial memos from the Bush administration about the authorization of enhanced interrogation techniques in interrogations of U.S. captives, Liz Cheney appeared on a morning news program on MSNBC defending “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the Justice Department attorneys who argued the methods were legal, and her father's record as vice-president.

• Liz Cheney was asked to nominate and write an entry for Time's 100 most influential people special issue in spring 2009. Cheney wrote of Norah al-Faiz, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister for Women's Education, "The appointment of al-Faiz, in her early 50s was the most significant sign yet of the quiet revolution under way since King Abdullah ascended the throne in 2005."

• On May 12, 2009, in a debate of the motion "Diplomacy With Iran Is Going Nowhere," sponsored by the Rosenkranz Foundation and Intelligence Squared U.S., Liz Cheney and Dan Senor argued in favor of the motion. R. Nicholas Burns and foreign policy analyst Kenneth Pollack argued that diplomacy has produced results.</ref>

• On June 5, 2009, Media Matters reported that Liz Cheney had made 22 public appearances in less than a month.

• On July 13, 2009, CNN reported that Liz Cheney had announced she was "open" to the idea of running for future political office.

• On July 14, 2009, The Associated Press reported that Liz Cheney, in response to whether her father, then Vice-President Dick Cheney, had broken any laws in instructing the CIA not to inform Congress of certain clandestine anti-terrorism programs recently terminated by Obama-appointed CIA Director Leon Panetta, said "There's no evidence of that." Cheney also conceded that "I was not in every meeting that my father had. I was not in most meetings that my father had" in regard to her father's role in allegedly concealing information from Congress.

• On July 21, 2009, Liz Cheney appeared on CNN's Larry King Live and stated in a discussion of the "birther" movement that "one of the reasons you see people so concerned about this, I think this issue is, people are uncomfortable with having for the first time ever, I think, a president who seems so reluctant to defend the nation overseas ..." Asked directly by King if she thought Obama was born in Kenya, Cheney responded, "No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that people are fundamentally uncomfortable and fundamentally I think increasingly uncomfortable with an American president who seems to be afraid to defend America, stand up for what we believe in."

• On September 28, 2009, The New York Times profiled Liz Cheney on its front page, describing her popularity among conservatives such as Michelle Malkin, Dan Senor, and Elliot Abrams at the "Smart Girls Summit" held in Nashville, Tennessee. In that article, Cheney's sister Mary Cheney is quoted as saying, "I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any daylight at all between Liz's and my father's views. It's not because she's been indoctrinated. It's because he's right."

Keep America Safe

In October 2009 Liz Cheney, William Kristol, and Deborah Burlingame launched, as board members, a non-profit 501(c)4 organization, Keep America Safe. The purpose of the group is to provide information for concerned Americans about critical national security issues.

External links

• [1] Video: Elizabeth Cheney as panelist as a Center for Strategic and International Studies panel participant with foreign policy experts Robin Wright of Washington Post, Jon Alterman of CSIS, Ken Pollack of Brookings Institution.
• Profile: Liz Cheney profile.
• [2] Transcript: appearance on Fox News' No Spin Zone, October 21, 2004, interview with Bill O'Reilly
• [3] Transcript: Foreign Press Center briefing on disbursement of MEPI funds, Manama, Bahrain, Nov. 9 2005.
• [4] Interview: Carnegie Endowment
• [5] Interview: with Norah O'Donnell of MSNBC, April 23, 2009
• [6] Transcript: debate in New York City, "Diplomacy with Iran Is Going Nowhere" sponsored by Rosenkranz Foundation and Intelligence Squared, May 12, 2009.
• [7] Keep America Safe website