Interview With Liz Cheney

Liz Cheney is an attorney and specialist in U.S. Middle East policy. From 2005-2006, she was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. In this capacity, she was the second-ranking State Department official responsible for U.S. policy in the Middle East. Prior to that, Ms. Cheney served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from 2002 to 2004. She was responsible for the establishment of the $300 million Middle East Partnership Initiative to support political, economic and educational reform and the empowerment of women in the Middle East. Ms. Cheney practiced law at White & Case LLP in the area of international project finance from 1996 to 1999. From 1999 to 2002 she served on assignment with the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group. Ms. Cheney served previously at the Department of State and at the Agency for International Development from 1989 to 1993 designing and managing US assistance projects in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. She is currently collaborating with Vice President Cheney on his memoirs, covering 40 years of his career in Washington. She is also a member of the International Board of Visitors at the University of Wyoming, and chairman of the board of the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, DC. Ms. Cheney earned her law degree from the University of Chicago in 1996 and her bachelor’s degree from the Colorado College in 1988. She is married to Philip J. Perry and they have five children.