Elizabeth Cheney

Infobox_Person


image_size = 150px
name = Elizabeth Cheney
caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1966|7|28
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
occupation =
spouse = Philip Perry
children = Kate (b. 1994), Elizabeth (b. 1997), and Grace (b. 2000), Philip Richard (b. July 2, 2004), Richard (b. July 11, 2006)
parents = Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney
sibilings = Mary Cheney

Elizabeth Cheney Perry (born July 28, 1966), is an American attorney. She is the elder of two daughters of United States Vice President Dick Cheney and Second Lady Lynne Cheney. Her younger sister is Mary Cheney. She has served in influential government appointments, and she is married to Philip Perry, the former General Counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security.

Personal life

Elizabeth graduated from McLean High School in 1984. She received her bachelor's degree from Colorado College where she wrote her senior thesis, "The Evolution of Presidential War Powers," in 1988. [Elizabeth L. Cheney, "The Evolution of Presidential War Powers," Senior Thesis, Colorado College, 1988. ] She received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1996.

She and husband Perry have five children: three daughters, Kate (b. 1994), Elizabeth (b. 1997), and Grace (b. 2000); and two sons, Philip Richard (b. July 2, 2004) and Richard (b. July 11, 2006).

Early career

Prior to 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 (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. [Michael Cooper, "The 2000 Campaign: The Republican Running Mate; For the Cheney Family the Motto is 'All for One'," New York Times, October 1, 2000.]

2000 Bush-Cheney Presidential campaign

When Liz Cheney's father, Dick Cheney was chosen by George Bush to vet candidates for the vice-presidential nomination, she assisted in the process of vetting candidates, along with Joe Allbaugh. Her name was listed on the return address of materials of at least one candidate during the "selection" process. Once Cheney himself was the nominee, she assisted in debate preparation. [Adam Nagourney and Frank Bruni, ""The Selection; Gatekeeper to Running Mate; Cheney's Road to Candidacy," "New York Times", July 28, 2000.] [Michael Cooper, "Seasoned Debater of Varied Styles vs. Upbeat But Less Experienced Opponent," "New York Times", October 3, 2000.] Elizabeth Cheney was given credit by D. Kyle Sampson, a former law school classmate, for his initial job within the Bush administration in screening new hires. Sampson later went on to become assistant to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, but resigned amid the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy. [Robert Gehrke, "Utahn Resigns in Controversy over U.S. Attorney's Firings," Salt Lake Tribune, March 13, 2007.]

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

In 2002 Cheney was appointed to the newly created position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, a pre-existing vacant post with a salary range of $126,000-$138,000, and 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 Colin Powell. ["State Department Post for Cheney Daughter," "New York Times", March 2, 2002.] [Dana Milbank, "In Appointments, Administration Leaves No Family Behind," "Washington Post", March 12, 2002.] 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. [Glenn Kessler and Peter Slevin, "Cheney is Fulcrum of Foreign Policy: In Interagency Fights, His Views Often Prevail," "Washington Post", October 13, 2002] [Steven R. Weiseman, "Mideast Mix: New Promise of Democracy and Threat of Instability, "New York Times", March 1, 2005.] Also in 2002, Cheney's husband, Philip Perry, was appointed as General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, which had oversight over what information about her programs could be made available to the public.

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. [Peter Slevin, "Vice President's Daughter to Leave State Dept." "Washington Post", November 18, 2003.] 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 September 11 and "security." [Mike Allen, "The Five (or More) W's," "Washington Post", May 13, 2004.]

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. [Al Kamen, "A Newly Meaningful Relationship, "Washington Post", February 14, 2005.] 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. [Maha Akeel, "Correcting Perceptions About American Is My Job:; Liz Cheney," Arab News, November 16, 2005.] In that capacity, Cheney endorsed a controversial draft of a new Iraqi constitution that was deemed a prelude to civil war and a sharia state, according independent Iraq experts, including former diplomats and a scholar from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. [Robin Wright, "Constitution Sparks Debate on Viability," "Washington Post", August 25, 2005.]

Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group

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. Pursuing what one Russian diplomate termed a "shadow Middle East Policy," Cheney met with and financed a "handful" of exiled Syrian activists such as Farid Ghadry to promote regime change in Damascus. [Robert Dreyfuss, "The Other Cheney Behind the Scenes," The American Prospect, June 13, 2006.] ISOG had first a $7 million-dollar budget and then an $80 million-dollar budget to promote democracy in Iran and to develop administration policy for Iran and Syria, as well as to influence Iran's access to credit and banking institutions, and to organize the sale of military equipment to its neighbors. In April 2006, "The New York Times" published a story critical of Cheney's work, quoting foreign leaders who saw her as "meddling" in the internal affairs of sovereign nations, particularly with respect to Iran. Of particular scrutiny was a grants program administered by Cheney's unit, in collaboration with a Republican-affiliated foundation, the International Republican Institute. [Steven R. Weisman, "U.S. Program Is Directed at Altering Iran's Politics," "New York Times", April 15, 2006. ] When the group became controversial, attracting criticism from some who saw it as plotting covert actions that could escalate into war with Iran and Syria, the group was disbanded, by May of 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. [Farah, Stockman, "U.S. Unit Created to Pressure Iran, Syria, Disbanded," Boston Globe, May 26, 2007.]

Cheney took maternity leave from the State Department in the spring of 2006. [Laura Rozen, Mojo Blog, Mother Jones, October 24, 2007]

World Bank controversy

In the spring of 2007 Cheney's name surfaced frequently in press accounts of her former aide, Shaha Ali Riza's affair with World Bank Chairman Paul Wolfowitz, and Riza's tax-free salary that exceeded even that of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, amid calls for Wolfowitz's resignation. [Maureen Dowd, "More Con Than Neo," "New York Times", April 14, 2007.] ["Time for Mr. Wolfowitz to Go," New York Times, April 16, 2007.] At the time of Wolfowitz's eventual resignation, Syd Blumenthal reported in "Salon.com" that at the time Riza, a foreign national, worked for Cheney in the State Department, she held an "unprecedented" and illegal security clearance engineered by Wolfowitz via the Defense Department: "State Department officials familiar with the details fo this matter confirmed to me that Shaha Ali Riza was detailed to the State Department and had unescorted access while working for Elizabeth Cheney. Access to the building requires a national security clearance or permanent escort by a person with such a clearance But the State Department has no record of having issued a national security clearance to Riza." [Blumenthal, cited in "Wolfowitz to Resign at World Bank Amid Scandal," "The New American", June 11, 2007.]

2008 Republican presidential campaigns

Cheney signed on in June 2007 to work for Fred Thompson and his 2008 presidential campaign. 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. [http://www.mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/Endorsement_Cheney]

Public appearances and publications

In late January 2007 Cheney penned an editorial in "The Washington Post" outlining the military and national security faults of Senator Hillary Clinton's recently adopted position on the war. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201103.html "Retreat Isn't an Option" The Washington Post, January 23, 2007] ] The article ended up being the most read article on the Washington Post website in 2007. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/24/AR2007122401193_2.html?hpid=opinionsbox1 The Most Popular Opinions of the Year] , December 29, 2007.]

In the time following her departure from the State Department, Cheney has become 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 the aid of Iran in stabilizing Iraq. [Dana Milbank, "Not So Quiet on the Third Front," "Washington Post", July 3, 2008.]

In August 2008, A "New York Times" reporter on Dick Cheney's final days as Vice-President stated that Liz Cheney was encouraging her father to write a book on his public service, and was in the process of indexing her father's pre-vice-presidential papers which are housed in various libraries across the country, "drafting timetables and outlines for his review." [Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "In Glimpses, Cheney Contemplates His Legacy," New York Times, August 31, 2008.]

= Quotations by Elizabeth Cheney =

*On torture: "The U.S. does not torture; in fact, what holds up the release from Guantanamo is getting a guarantee from their governments that they won't be tortured. Guantanamo and prisons in Afghanistan are completely consistent with international obligations. Just because the Geneva Convention might not technically apply does not mean that America does not treat people with the spirit of the convention. . . . While we are doing things militarily in the war on terror, we are also spreading hope and opportunity so that the young people do not become recruits for the terrorists." [Maha Akeel, "Arab News", "Correcting Perceptions About America is My Job: Liz Cheney," Nov. 16, 2005"]

References

External links

* [http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/3376.html] Profile at RightWeb
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2097365 "Elizabeth Cheney, Deferment Baby", Slate.com] .
* [http://www.nndb.com/people/563/000122197/ Elizabeth Cheney profile at NNDB] .
* [http://media.csis.org/csistv/?080626_dialogue] video of Cheney as CSIS-sponsored panel participant with foreign policy experts Robin Wright of Washington Post, Jon Alterman of CSIS, Ken Pollack of Brookings Institution.