On March 2, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appointed SAIS Professor Eliot Cohen to serve as her counselor.

Cohen will be on leave of absence for at least one year from SAIS, where he is the Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies, director of the Strategic Studies Program and director of the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies.

Cohen will complete his classroom teaching for this semester. Thomas Keaney, executive director of the Foreign Policy Institute and of the Merrill Center, will serve as acting director of the Strategic Studies Program in Cohen’s absence.

Dean Jessica P. Einhorn said, "Professor Cohen is the greatest of mentors to scores of his students who choose public service. While we will all surely miss him at SAIS, we honor and support his decision to give counsel to Secretary Rice and colleagues, who are engaging in the important work of our time."

Cohen, who joined SAIS in July 1990, holds a doctorate in political science from Harvard University and is the author of numerous books and articles. He formerly taught at Harvard and the U.S. Naval War College, served on the policy planning staff of the secretary of Defense and directed the U.S. Air Force’s Gulf War Air Power Survey.