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Edmund Hull, former United States ambassador to Yemen
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Former Ambassador to Yemen to Speak at WIU Feb. 25

February 18, 2015

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MACOMB, IL – Edmund Hull, former United States ambassador to Yemen, will speak at Western Illinois University at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25 in Stipes Hall, room 121.

The appearance, which is open free to the public, is sponsored by the WIU departments of political science and law enforcement and justice administration.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hull was named ambassador to Yemen and he served there until 2004. Prior to his ambassador appointment, Hull served both presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush as deputy and then acting coordinator for counterterrorism in the U.S. Department of State.

A career foreign service officer, Hull also served as director for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Affairs, deputy chief of mission in Embassy Cairo, director for Near East Affairs on the National Security Council, and director for Northern Gulf Affairs (Iraq and Iran) during Operation Desert Storm. He has served in Tunisia as both a Peace Corps volunteer and political counselor at the U.S. Embassy. He also served as desk officer for Algeria in the Department of State.

A graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, Hull was appointed its first diplomat-in-residence after departing Yemen. He has received numerous honors including the CIA's George H. W. Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism, a Presidential Meritorious Service Award for duty in Yemen and the State Department's Award for Excellence in the Direction and Management of Overseas Missions, for work as Deputy Chief of Mission in Cairo. Ambassador Hull's views on counterterrorism and Yemen have been featured on 60 Minutes, CNN, the New York Times and Al Jazeera.

His op ed, "Al Qaeda's Shadowland," ran in the New York Times on Jan. 11, 2010. His book, "High-Value Target: Countering Al Qaeda in Yemen," was published by Potomac Books in April 2011. The American Academy of Diplomacy selected High-Value Target for the 2011 Douglas Dillon Award for Distinguished Writing on Diplomacy.

"We are very fortunate to hear the perspectives of Ambassador Hull, whose insights and experience in the Middle East are invaluable. The continued instability in Yemen, fracturing of Iraq and Syria aggravated by ISIL, and turmoil in Libya, Egypt, and elsewhere in North Africa demonstrate that Ambassador Hull's talk is very timely and important," said Dean C. Alexander, WUI professor and director of the Homeland Security Research Program.

For more information about Hull's appearance, contact WIU Political Science Professor Janna Deitz at (309) 298-1741.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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