Tamara Wittes

Tamara Wittes is a senior fellow and the director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Wittes served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from November of 2009 to January 2012, coordinating U.S. policy on democracy and human rights in the Middle East for the State Department. Wittes also oversaw the Middle East Partnership Initiative and served as deputy special coordinator for Middle East transitions. She is the author of Freedom’s Unsteady March: America’s Role in Building Arab Democracy (Brookings, 2008).