Last modified: Thursday, September 30, 2004
Lee Hamilton to speak at IU Bloomington
EDITORS: Lee Hamilton will be available to answer questions from reporters after his speech.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind -- Lee Hamilton, vice chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States -- better known as the 9-11 Commission -- will present the Neal-Marshall Public Policy Lecture at Indiana University Bloomington on Oct. 13. The event is free and open to the public.
The lecture is jointly sponsored by the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club.
Hamilton will speak on the topic, "Reflections on the 9-11 Commission Findings," at 3 p.m. in Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union, located at 900 E. Seventh St. After his talk, Hamilton will answer questions from the audience.
Hamilton served as vice chair of the independent, bi-partisan commission, created by congressional legislation and by President George W. Bush in 2002. The 9-11 Commission was chartered to prepare a complete account of the circumstances surrounding the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, including preparedness for and immediate response to the attacks. The commission also was mandated to provide recommendations designed to guard against future attacks.
Hamilton served for 34 years in Congress representing Indiana's Ninth District. In 1999, he became director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., and the Center on Congress, housed at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
During his tenure in Congress, Hamilton served as chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (now the Committee on International Relations), chaired the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East from the early 1970s until 1993, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran.
Hamilton also served as chairman of the Joint Economic Committee and worked to promote long-term economic growth and development. As chairman of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress and as a member of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee, he was a primary draftsman of several House ethics reforms.
Since leaving the House of Representatives, Hamilton has served as a commissioner on the influential U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (the Hart-Rudman Commission) and was co-chair with former Sen. Howard Baker of the Baker-Hamilton Commission to Investigate Certain Security Issues at Los Alamos.
Hamilton currently is a member of the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council.
