L. Paul Bremer

Lewis Paul Bremer III (born September 30, 1941) was named Director of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Post-war Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, to replace Jay Garner, on May 6, 2003 as overseer of the 2003 occupation of Iraq. He arrived in Iraq on May 11. Bremer is faced with creating the trappings of democracy in Iraq, while ensuring that a fundamentalist Islamic government does not win control of the country

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Bremer was educated at Yale University (earning a B.A. in 1963) and went on to earn a Masters of Business Administration from Harvard University in 1966. That year he joined the Foreign Service[?] as Officer General in Kabul, Afghanistan, later continuing his education at the Institute d'Etudes Politiques of the University of Paris, where he earned a Certificate of Political Studies (CEP). He was also assigned in Blantyre, Malawi[?] as Economic and Commercial Officer from 1968 to 1971.

During the 1970s Bremer held various domestic posts with the State Department, including posts as assistant to Henry Kissinger from 1972-76. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Oslo from 1976-79, returning stateside to take a post of Deputy Executive Secretary of State where he remained from 1979-81. In 1981 he became Executive Secretary and Special Assistant to Alexander Haig.

Ronald Reagan appointed Bremer as Ambassador to the Netherlands in 1983 and Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism in 1986. Bremer retired from the Foreign Service in 1989 and became managing director at Kissinger Associates[?], a worldwide consulting firm founded by Henry Kissinger. More recently he has been employed as Chairman and CEO of Marsh Crisis Consulting, a risk and insurance services firm which is a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

Bremer was appointed Chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism by House Speaker Dennis Hastert in 1999. In late 2001, along with former Attorney General Edwin Meese Bremer co-chaired the Heritage Foundation[?]'s Homeland Security Task Force, which created a blueprint for the White House's Dept. of Homeland Security. For two decades Bremer has been a regular at Congressional hearings and is recognized as an expert on terrorism and internal security.

His appointment to head operations in Iraq has been criticized by some human rights groups, who note that while chairing the National Commission on Terrorism, Bremer advocated relaxation of CIA guidelines which restrict working with individuals and groups who have a record of human rights abuses. [1] (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/08/international/worldspecial/08BREM)

He is married to the former Frances Winfield, and they have a son and a daughter. In addition to his native English, Bremer speaks French, Norwegian, Farsi, and German.