Lee Hamilton bio

1. Name: Lee Hamilton
2. Title: President and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Director of The Center on Congress at Indiana University, and former Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission
3. Biography: Lee Hamilton has been President and Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center as well as Director of The Center on Congress since 1999. He served for 34 years, from 1965 to 1999, in Congress as a U.S. Representative for Indiana’s 9th District.

Since leaving the House, Hamilton has served as Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (the Hart-Rudman Commission) and was Co-chair with former Senator Howard Baker (R-TN) of the Baker-Hamilton Commission to Investigate Certain Security Issues at Los Alamos.

From 2002 to 2004, Hamilton served as Vice Chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission), and as Co-chair of the Iraq Study Group in 2006.

He is Co-chair of the National Security Preparedness Group with Thomas Kean, Co-chair with Brent Scowcroft of the Department of Energy Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, and recipient of the Paul H. Nitze Award for Distinguished Authority on National Security Affairs.

Hamilton also serves on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the FBI Director’s Advisory Board, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Task Force on Preventing the Entry of Weapons of Mass Effect on American Soil, and the CIA External Advisory Board.
4. Committee/ Assignments:
  • Former Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee
  • Former Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress
  • Former Member of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee
  • Former Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Former Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
  • Former Chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran
5. Education:
  • J.D., Indiana University School of Law, 1956
  • B.A., DePauw University, 1952
6. Published Works:
  • Strengthening Congress, 2009
  • Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission (Co-written with Thomas H. Kean), 2007
  • The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward–A New Approach (Co-written with Lee H. Hamilton, Lawrence S. Eagleburger, Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Edwin Meese III, Sandra Day O’Connor, Leon E. Panetta, William J. Perry, Charles S. Robb, and Alan K. Simpson), 2007
  • How Congress Works and Why You Should Care, 2004
  • A Creative Tension: The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress (Co-written with Jordan Tama), 2003
7. Contact info: Lee Hamilton
Center on Congress at Indiana University 1315 E. 10th Street, Suite 320
Bloomington, IN  47405-1701
Phone: (812) 856-4706
Email: [email protected]