Profile of L. Paul Bremer
— -- L. Paul Bremer, former head of the State Department's counterterrorism effort and longtime U.S. ambassador, has been appointed as the civilian administrator guiding reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
Bremer is expected to take charge of the political process, while Ret. Gen. Jay Garner will focus on aspects of reconstruction.
According to the Washington Post, the appointment of Bremer, who is expected to be Garner's boss, "has proved a distraction in the palace, where diplomats and soldiers assigned to the reconstruction operation wonder for whom they will be working."
Garner says he only intended to be in Iraq temporarily. "I'll stay a while. There's got to be a good handoff," Garner said.
Recognized as one of the world's foremost authorities on terrorism, Bremer has a 23-year career as a U.S. diplomat.
Bremer joined the diplomatic service in 1966. He served as political, economic and commercial officer at American Embassies in both Afghanistan and Malawi. From 1976 to 1979, he was the deputy ambassador and charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway.
He served as an executive assistant to six different secretaries of state. In 1981, Bremer was appointed executive secretary of the State Department and a special assistant to the secretary of state where he was in charge of the department's 24-hour crisis management and emergency response center.
He has also worked as an ambassador to the Netherlands from 1983 to 1986. In 1986, President Reagan appointed him ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism. His responsibilities included developing and implementing America's global policies to combat terrorism. For the next three years, he was the top adviser on terrorism to both the president and secretary of state.
In 1989, he joined Kissinger Associates, a strategic consulting firm headed by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
In 1999, he was appointed chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. The commission was set to review America's counterterrorism policies. The report was submitted to the president in June of 2000.
In October 2001, Bremer became chairman and chief executive officer of Marsh Inc, a crisis consulting firm.
Bremer is a recipient of two State Department Superior Honor Awards, two Presidential Meritorious Service Awards, and the Distinguished Honor Award from the secretary of state.
Bremer received his BA from Yale, a CEP from the Institut D'etudes Politiques of the University of Paris, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He speaks French, Dutch, and Norwegian.