Israel Hernandez

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For the Cuban athlete with the same name see Israel Hernández

Israel Hernandez

Israel Hernandez is currently serving as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director-General of the United States Commercial Service under President George W. Bush. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 3, 2005. This U.S. government agency promotes U.S. trade and provides business advocacy assistance at the state and local level.

1 History
2 Trivia
3 Footnotes
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

Hernandez graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a double major in Philosophy and Political Science in 1992; he worked as an intern for Governor Bill Clements during this time. He earned a M.P.A. from the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University in 1999.

Hernandez worked for President Bush in Texas as Director of Voter Contact in the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign. He was an assistant to Bush in Texas during his campaign for and first term as Governor of Texas.

Hernandez first joined the Commerce Department as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce. Before joining the Department of Commerce, Hernandez worked in the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. He was the Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush and Special Assistant to Senior Advisor Karl Rove. During the Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign, Hernandez was the contact person between the White House and the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Hernandez testified before the CIA leak grand jury investigation in July 2005.^[1]

Hernandez is one of the few members of George W. Bush's administration that is known to be gay but does not seem anxious to emphasize that fact at this time. According to media reports Hernandez only informed President Bush he was gay after he joined Bush's staff.^[2] ^[3]

[edit] Trivia

President Bush's nickname for Hernandez was Altoid Boy, in reference to Herdandez' responsibility for handing breath mints to Bush while on the campaign trail.