The Humpty Dumpty Institute's Briefing on Capitol Hill

New Secretary General

February 2007

On February 2, 2007, HDI arranged for Bob Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning, to come to Washington, DC to brief House and Senate staff members. Dr. Orr focused on priorities for the U.N. and for the new Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with an emphasis on U.N. reform and the future of U.S.-U.N. relations. Dr. Orr covered areas of U.N. peacekeeping, the Capital Master Plan, the new Human Rights Council, Sudan, the Middle East, and a range of other issues. Both briefings were filled with an enthusiastic crowd of congressional staffers, members of the congressional research unit, and students.

A leading authority on nation-building, peace operations, and counter-terrorism, Robert Orr was named Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations in August 2004. Working directly in the U.N. Secretary-General's office, he is in charge of policy and planning for the United Nations.

Dr. Orr comes to the United Nations from Harvard University where he served as the Executive Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government. Prior to this, he served as Director of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. He also served as a White House Fellow.