Tamara Cofman Wittes

Tamara Cofman Wittes is an American writer and public figure. She became the fourth president of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in 2024. Before joining the institute, she served as director of foreign assistance for the US State Department. Until November 2021, she was a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. She directed the Center from March 2012 through March 2017. From November 2009 through January 2012, she was a deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs at the United States Department of State. Wittes has written about U.S. foreign policy, democratic change in the Arab world and about the Arab–Israeli conflict.