Kim Holmes | |
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United States Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs | |
In office November 19, 2002 – May 1, 2005 |
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President | George W. Bush |
Preceded by | David Welch |
Succeeded by | Kristen Silverberg |
Personal details | |
Nationality | American |
Political party | Republican |
Alma mater |
University of Central Florida Georgetown University |
Kim R. Holmes is an author and a former American diplomat and Assistant Secretary of State. A Distinguished Fellow at Heritage Foundation, he speaks and writes on a variety of issues facing the United States. Between 1992 and 2012, he served twice as the foundation’s Vice President of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies and Director of its Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies. From 2002 to 2005, he served as the United States Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.
Holmes’s published works include Rebound: Getting America Back to Great (2013) and Liberty's Best Hope: American Leadership in the 21st Century (2008). He is a founding editor of the annual Heritage/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom, in its 20th edition in 2015.
Holmes holds a Master's degree and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University and has a bachelor's degree from the University of Central Florida.
In 2012, Kim Holmes became a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, focusing on foreign policy and applying history to the formulation of public policy. He had returned to the Heritage Foundation in 2005 to serve as Vice President of Foreign Policy and lead its team of over 40 experts in a broad portfolio covering foreign affairs and national security. Having just served at the State Department, Holmes rapidly expanded the foundation’s engagement in international affairs. He was instrumental, e.g., in establishing its Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom – the only such center in the world carrying Lady Thatcher's name.
In 2001, Holmes accepted a presidential nomination to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs under Secretary of State Colin Powell, a position he held until mid-2005. He was responsible for U.S. engagement at the United Nations and 46 other international organizations, directing over 400 U.S. diplomats and civil servants at the State Department headquarters in Washington and at U.S. missions in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Paris, Rome, Montreal and Nairobi. Key U.S. multilateral efforts included developing stronger mechanisms for countering terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; combating human rights abuses such as genocide in Sudan; and reentering UNESCO. Major U.N. Security Council resolutions secured during his tenure dealt with the U.N.'s involvement in Iraq and Sudan and the adoption of the first-ever resolution (United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540) on nonproliferation, which recognized the importance of global partnerships such as the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative. Holmes also helped to forge the first democracy caucus at the U.N. and to establish the United Nations Democracy Fund. He testified before Congress not only on the budget for engagement with international organizations but also on such hot topics as Castro’s crackdown on human rights activist in Cuba and U.N. peacekeeping abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo