Chairman Ros-Lehtinen on the hearing: “Given the President’s recent trip to the Middle East and current developments in the Gulf region, it is extremely timely to analyze U.S. foreign policy towards Saudi Arabia. Our relationship with Saudi Arabia is complicated because we want reforms and improvements to Saudi’s abysmal human rights record, yet we must acknowledge that Saudi Arabia is an important security partner in the fight against ISIS and in combating Iranian influence in the region. This hearing will allow our members to discuss the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia and assess the U.S. role in supporting the Gulf’s efforts in countering ISIS and other terrorist groups, and determine what changes need to be made to our foreign policy objectives moving forward.”

Opening Statements

Witnesses

The Honorable Joseph W. Westphal
Senior Global Fellow
The Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies
University of Pennsylvania
(Former United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

The Honorable Gerald M. Feierstein
Director for Gulf Affairs
Middle East Institute
(Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, U.S. Department of State)
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]
[revised truth in testimony form]

Ms. Karen Elliott House
Senior Fellow
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Harvard University
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

The Honorable Tom Malinowski
(Former Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State)
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

____________________________

Hearing transcript (PDF)