Herman Jay Cohen

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Herman Jay ("Hank") Cohen (b. 1932) is an American lobbyist and diplomat. He is the best known for his tenure as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1989, during which he brokered an end to the Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict in 1991, and the eventual partition of the country into two independent states (incidentally with regimes friendly to U.S. interests.) Currently he is a principal in the lobbying firm Cohen and Woods International.

Contents

[edit] Career synopsis

  • Military service: US Army (1953-55)
  • University: BA Political Science, City College of New York (1953)
  • University: MA International Relations, American University (1962)
  • Professor: Johns Hopkins University
  • US Ambassador to Senegal 1977-80
  • US Ambassador to the Gambia 1977-80
  • US National Security Council Africa Director
  • US Official Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (1989-93)
  • World Bank

[edit] Other affiliations

[edit] Quotes

"Essentially, the collection process of the CIA is a vacuum cleaner. It takes in everything that they get, and they shove it off to Washington, whether it is garbage or whether it is high quality. And I remember when I was in Senegal, I saw a piece of paper coming across my desk. It was a CIA report. And I said this is garbage. Why are we sending it? And I called in the station chief and I said, Why did this go to Washington? And he said, Well, we are a vacuum cleaner. We take everything in and we send it to Washington. It is up to the people in Washington to decide what to do with it."[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Testimony of Herman ("Hank") Cohen.
Preceded by
Orison Rudolph Aggrey
U.S. Ambassador to Gambia
1977 – 1980
Succeeded by
'
Preceded by
Orison Rudolph Aggrey
U.S. Ambassador to Senegal
1977 – 1980
Succeeded by
'
Preceded by
Chester A. Crocker
United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
19891993
Succeeded by
George Moose
In other languages