Ambassador Eric S. Edelman, Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, has been named a Knight of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour for special contributions to the advancement of the defense relationship between France and the United States during his career in the U.S. Foreign Service and as the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. The order is the highest decoration in France and the first order of merit established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.
“Ambassador Edelman’s service at a critical time between 2005 and 2008, allowed all of us to make tremendous progress toward restoring and renewing the bilateral ties, and present to our leaders refreshing and unprecedented opportunities that took our Alliance to new grounds,” said Ambassador Jean-David Levite, National Security Advisor to President Sarkozy at the award ceremony held in Paris on January 18, 2011. In his remarks, Ambassador Levite gave special acknowledgement to Ambassador Edelman’s contribution to the joint Franco-American efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Ambassador Eric S. Edelman retired as a Career Minister from the U.S. Foreign Service on May 1, 2009. He has served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House. As the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy he oversaw strategy development as DoD’s senior policy official with global responsibility for bilateral defense relations, war plans, special operations forces, homeland defense, missile defense, nuclear weapons and arms control policies, counter-proliferation, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, arms sales, and defense trade controls.