Lugar to join German Marshall Fund

Defeated Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) is joining the German Marshall Fund as a senior fellow tasked with improving relations between Congress and the Washington diplomatic corps, the fund announced Wednesday.

The Senate’s longest serving Republican will head a new Lugar Diplomacy Institute tasked with working “to change the way the United States Congress relates to the international community by improving communication and understanding between the Washington diplomatic corps and Congress,” the fund said. His institute’s activities will be directed by the fund’s director of congressional affairs, Maia Comeau.

{mosads}“It is an honor to welcome Senator Lugar to GMF,” German Marshall Fund President Craig Kennedy said in a statement. “He is a distinguished lawmaker whose service in the United States Senate is greatly admired around the globe. His expertise on international affairs and national security will be a tremendous asset to GMF’s work.”

Lugar has been a leader on foreign policy issues for decades, notably nuclear arms reduction. He was first elected to the Senate in 1976 but lost a primary challenge by Tea Party candidate Richard Mourdock, who lost to Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States’ stated goal is to “strengthen[s] transatlantic cooperation on regional, national, and global challenges and opportunities in the spirit of the Marshall Plan.”