Lynne Davidson

Lynne A. Davidson is Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL).

"Ms. Davidson joined DRL as the senior policy advisor after serving from 2001-2005 as Chief Speechwriter to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and as a Senior Member of the Policy Planning Staff. From 1998-2001, she was the Chief Speechwriter to Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet.

"From 1993-98, Ms. Davidson was the Senior Associate for Human Rights and Special Assistant to Ambassador Morton I. Abramowitz, then President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she helped to shape the original proposal for the International Crisis Group, now a leading NGO.

"From 1987-93, Ms. Davidson was a senior speechwriter to Secretaries of State Shultz, Baker and Christopher. Concurrently, she served as a senior State Department advisor and negotiator for a series of experts’ meetings (Copenhagen, Geneva, Moscow) of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which resulted in breakthrough post-Cold War agreements on the rule of law, human rights and conflict resolution mechanisms, and democratic institution building. She also helped develop the U.S. initiative to establish a U.N. War Crimes Commission, which opened the way for the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

"Ms. Davidson was a senior advisor on the congressionally based bipartisan Helsinki Commission from 1977-87. Her portfolios included: Romania, Poland following the crackdown on the Solidarity movement, Soviet Jewry, senior NGO liaison, and senior U.S. negotiator for the Helsinki Third (Human Dimension) Basket at the CSCE Follow-Up Meeting in Vienna, Austria.

"Ms. Davidson received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award in 1993, 2002 and 2005, Exceptional Performance Awards from the Central Intelligence Agency in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and the Director of Central Intelligence’s Director’s Award in 2001. She was educated at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service."