You are cordially invited to attend a lecture on the topic of
Religion, Foreign Policy, and National Security:
Why religion and religious freedom matter
with
Knox Thames
Director of Policy and Research, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
Monday, January 27
4:30 PM
The Institute of World Politics
1521 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Parking map
Registration for this event is now closed.
Knox Thames serves as the Director of Policy and Research at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The Commission is an independent, U.S. government advisory body established to monitor religious freedom conditions worldwide and make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and the Congress.
Mr. Thames is also an Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Army War College and is a member of the State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group. Before USCIRF, he was the lead State Department officer on religious freedom issues in multilateral fora, such as the UN and OSCE, serving in the Office of International Religious Freedom. Mr. Thames was also Counsel for six years at the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission), focusing on religious freedom and religious tolerance, issues involving refugees and internally displaced persons, and democracy and human rights in Central Asia. From 2004-2012, the State Department appointed Mr. Thames to the OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and in 2010 he was invited to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a term member.
Mr. Thames earned a J.D. with honors from the American University Washington College of Law. He also holds a Master’s in International Affairs from the American University School of International Service. An author of numerous articles on a range of foreign policy issues, his writing has been featured in the Yale Journal of International Affairs, ForeignPolicy.com, and the Small Wars Journal.