“Challenges and Opportunities of U.S. Assistance to the Lebanese State”
Sage Hall, Room 06, Beirut campus
As part of the guest speaker series in his classes, Dr. Imad Salamey, LAU assistant professor of political science, will be hosting this public lecture by Mr. Thaddeus Kontek, the U.S. State Department’s Director for International Law Enforcement Programs in Lebanon.
About the guest speaker
Mr. Kontek directs $141-million programs that provide technical assistance, training and equipment in support of justice-sector reform in Lebanon including civilian policing, narcotics control, border control, and prison reform.
Prior to his posting in Lebanon, Mr. Kontek was the Human Dimension Officer at the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria, where he negotiated international agreements on issues related to human rights, democracy and fundamental freedoms. From 2005 to 2006, Mr. Kontek was a Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, where he handled Sunni political integration, external relations, and minority issues.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Kontek served in the United States Civil Service, holding positions at the Departments of Labor, Treasury, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Executive Office of the President of the United States. He also ran several non-governmental organizations in the 1980s promoting human rights and democracy in the then-Soviet region including as Managing Director of the Solidarity Endowment, President of the Friends of Solidarity at Georgetown University, and coordinator for the International Conference of Solidarity Support Organizations.
He holds an undergraduate degree in international relations from the American University in Washington, D.C., and a master’s degree in economics from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His postgraduate studies are in management at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and in philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. He has spoken extensively and published articles on post-Soviet transformation, human rights, democracy and fundamental freedoms.