Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed former U.S. government official Robert Orr as the U.N. assistant secretary-general for policy coordination and strategic planning. Orr, who is currently executive director for research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, will work in Annan's office. The appointment was announced Friday. From 1996 to 2001, he served in a series of senior posts in the U.S. government including deputy to former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and director of global and multilateral affairs at the National Security Council. Orr then co-directed a bipartisan commission on post-conflict reconstruction sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Association of the United States Army from 2001 to 2003. Before going to Harvard, he served as director of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. The post was previously held by another American, Michael Doyle.
