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, Deputy Director for Policy and Research
Dwight Bashir joined the Commission in 2002. Previously a Senior Policy Analyst, Mr. Bashir became Deputy Director of Policy and Research in 2009. Before coming to the Commission he worked as a consultant with the United Nations and at various non-governmental organizations focusing on human rights and international conflict resolution with a concentration in the Near East region. Mr. Bashir is a specialist in ethnic and religious conflict and preventive diplomacy. He has traveled widely in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa and has lectured and published on an array of topics in international affairs, including peace and security, human rights, religious extremism, and U.S. foreign policy and has advocated a range of international human rights issues before Members of Congress and senior U.S. government officials. He has been interviewed by major national and international media, including CNN, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, Associated Press, and Voice of America, as well as regionally-focused media, such as Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera, Arab News, and BBC Arabic and Persian Services. Mr. Bashir holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Richmond and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.
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, Director of Communications
Tom Carter joined the Commission in March 2009. Prior to that, he was the Communications Director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest law
firm protecting the free expression of all religious traditions
. A graduate of Susquehanna University and Unification Theological Seminary, Tom spent 25 years reporting in Washington, and around the world. On the Washington Times foreign desk, Tom focused on human rights
in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and global health issues, including HIV,
malaria, and tuberculosis. He interviewed dozens of international
leaders, from the Dalai Lama and Benazir Bhutto, to heads of state including
Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Mexico's Vicente Fox,
Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, and Botswana's Festus Mogae. After three reporting trips to Cuba, he was banned from returning when his
articles on human rights activists angered government officials. Tom and his wife Chizuko have been married for 26 years. They have two
grown children.
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, Deputy Director for Policy and Research
Elizabeth K. Cassidy joined the Commission in 2007 as International Legal Specialist and became Deputy Director for Policy and Research in 2009. Previously, she was Assistant Executive Director of UN Watch, a non-governmental organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where she monitored and analyzed United Nations affairs, with a particular focus on the U.N.'s Geneva-based human rights bodies. Before UN Watch, Ms. Cassidy taught courses in constitutional law, comparative law, and international human rights law at Princeton University, Seton Hall University School of Law and the University of Namibia and worked as a legal consultant to several human rights NGOs in Windhoek, Namibia. She also has practiced law in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and worked as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Richard Nygaard of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Hon. William Bassler of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Ms. Cassidy holds a B.A. in international politics from Wesleyan University, a J.D. from American University's Washington College of Law, and a LL.M in comparative constitutional law from the University of Stellenbosch.
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, Senior Policy Analyst
Catherine Cosman joined the staff of the Commission as Senior Policy
Analyst in November 2003. Her areas of responsibility include the
countries of the former Soviet Union, East and Central Europe and
Western Europe. She served on the staff of the U.S. Commission on
Security and Cooperation in Europe as senior analyst on Soviet dissent
(1976-1989). Cosman was also a commentator on Soviet society for a
nationally syndicated U.S. radio program. She then joined Human Rights
Watch (1989-1992) where she wrote several studies on ethnic conflicts
in Central Asia and the Caucasus and the human rights in the then-USSR.
Working with emerging independent labor unions for the Free Trade Union
Institute (1992-1996), she focussed on Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. She
lived in Estonia where she was the Senior Expert of the OSCE Mission,
working on the integration of the Russian minority into Estonian
society (1996-1998.) She managed the Central Asian and Caucasus grants
program at the National Endowment for Democracy, before joining the
Communications Division at RFE/RL in 1999 where she edited "Media
Matters" and "(Un)Civil Societies." She has lived, worked and studied
in Berlin, Germany; Moscow, then-USSR; and Prague, Czech Republic. She
received a BA in History from Grinnell College and a MA and an ABD in
Slavic Languages and Literatures from Brown University. She also has
studied at the Free University of Berlin and the All-Union Institute of
Cinematography in Moscow.
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, Director of Operations and Outreach
David Dettoni joined the Commission in February of 2003, after four years as a senior legislative assistant for Representative Frank R. Wolf, whom he advised on policy issues related to human rights, foreign affairs, religious freedom, and international terrorism. Mr. Dettoni was Rep. Wolf's staff liaison to the Foreign Operations appropriations subcommittee and assisted with pertinent issues relating to the Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary appropriations subcommittee. He was also the primary staff person for Rep.Wolf to the Helsinki Commission, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Prior to that, Mr. Dettoni was the assistant director of a faith-based undergraduate and graduate program at Stanford University, where he launched the first Veritas Forum and led outreach and special service projects in Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Israel, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela. He has also worked at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Mr. Dettoni holds a B.A. in philosophy from Westmont College and a Master's degree in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.
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, Deputy Director for Policy and Research
Scott Flipse joined the Commission in April of 2003. Before coming to the Commission he was Associate Director and Adjunct Professor of History for the University of Notre Dame's Washington Semester. Mr. Flipse is a specialist in American foreign policy, particularly toward Southeast and East Asia. He brings to the Commission a wealth of unique professional and educational experience. He served as a legislative assistant and committee staffer for Congressman Frank R. Wolf, specializing in human rights, religious freedom, and foreign operation's appropriations. After working on the Hill, he helped start an inner-city jobs and mentoring program in Los Angeles and later worked in Hollywood as a writer. Mr. Flipse has a B.A. in government from Calvin College, an M.A. in Social Ethics and Religion from the University of Southern California and Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Notre Dame.
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, Director of Government Relations
Judith Golub joined the
Commission in January, 2009. Before
coming to the Commission, she was the Executive Director of the San
Francisco-based Immigrant Legal Resource.
She also was the Senior Director of Advocacy at the American Immigration
Lawyers Association, and Legislative Director at the American Jewish Committee,
both based in Washington DC. She brings to the Commission more than twenty
years experience working with Congressional staff, federal agencies, and the
White House; planning, coordinating and implementing legislative strategies;
developing, policy, media and grassroots issue advocacy campaigns in support of
legislation and policies; developing and working in coalitions with like-minded
organizations to help create effective networks; and working with the media.
Ms. Golub has focused on a broad range of issues during her career including
religious freedom, hate crimes, due process protections, detention,
deportation, expedited removal, civil rights, refugee and asylum issues, and
immigration.
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, Director of Administration
Carmelita Hines (formally Carmelita Pratt) joined the Commission in
April 2003 after serving as an administrator for the DC Public Charter
School Board. In addition to her current appointment, she has served
with four other Commissions: The Commission on Severely Distressed
Public Housing, Commission on Manufactured Housing, Commission on the
Cost of Higher Education, and Commission on the Advancement of Federal
Law Enforcement. Mrs. Hines earned her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology
from Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio.
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, Senior Policy Analyst
Tiffany Lynch is a policy analyst at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, where her work focuses on refugee and asylum issues, and religious freedom in Latin America, and Africa. She has been with the Commission since February 2006. Ms. Lynch came to the Commission after receiving a Master's degree in Anthropology and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked at the Stanhope Centre for Communication Policy and Research researching freedom of the press issues in East Africa and spent two and a half years at the National Endowment for Democracy where she managed the International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy, a World Movement for Democracy network of parliamentarians dedicated to the promotion of democracy and the protection of democratic parliamentarians. Ms. Lynch received a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Political Science and minor in French from the University of Indiana.
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, Director of Policy and Research
Knox Thames joined the Commission in February 2009. Before coming to the Commission, he worked in the Office of International Religious Freedom at the U.S. Department of State, and was the lead State Department officer on religious freedom issues in multilateral fora, such as the UN and OSCE. Mr. Thames also served as Counsel for six years at the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission), where he was the point-person on religious freedom matters, on issues involving refugees and internally displaced persons, and focused on democracy and human rights in Central Asia. In 2004, Mr. Thames was appointed by the State Department to serve as one of the two U.S. experts on the OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Mr. Thames earned a J.D. with honors from the American University Washington College of Law. He also holds a Master's in International Affairs from the American University School of International Service. An author of numerous articles on a range of human rights issues, his book International Religious Freedom Advocacy was released in August 2009 by Baylor University Press.
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, Executive Director
Jackie Wolcott is Executive Director of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. She has a long career in government executive positions, most recently as Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation (2008 - 2009). In this capacity, she represented the United States with counterpart governments to develop international cooperation that supports civil nuclear power expansion globally while reducing risks of nuclear proliferation, consistent with the Joint Declaration on Nuclear Energy and Nonproliferation announced by Presidents Bush and Putin in 2007. Prior to this appointment, she served since February 2006 as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Security Council handling the full range of international security issues before the Council.
Ms. Wolcott also was Ambassador and United States Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and Special Representative of the President of the United States for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons from December 2003 through February 2006. In the latter capacity, she had lead responsibility for U.S. participation in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review process. Ambassador Wolcott was also accredited as U.S. Governor and head of delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors in Vienna for its September 2004 through June 2005 quarterly Board meetings.
Prior to this, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs from 2001 to 2003 and from 1990 to 1993, with broad responsibility for foreign policy development and multilateral negotiations within the United Nations system. For several years she had specific responsibility for human rights issues in the United Nations, including international freedom of religion issues. In this capacity, Ambassador Wolcott developed and implemented U.S. strategy at the UN Human Rights Commission, the Economic and Social Council, the Commission on the Status of Women, and all related issues in the UN General Assembly. She worked on numerous religious freedom resolutions, including combating defamation of religions; elimination of all forms of religious intolerance; the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, among others. She also worked on country specific religious freedom issues such as protection of Baha’is in Iran, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion in North Korea, and the situation in Turkmenistan with regard to compulsory military service affecting objecting religious minorities. Ambassador Wolcott served for more than 20 years in the federal government, including nine years on Capitol Hill (Senate and House). She held several additional positions relating to national security affairs, including Associate Director for National Security in the Office of Presidential Personnel, The White House; White House Liaison for the Department of State; and Special Assistant for Congressional Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Department of State.
Ambassador Wolcott currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of United Against Nuclear Iran, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing a nuclear Iran and exposing Iran as a major violator of human rights at home and abroad.
Dwight Bashir joined the Commission in 2002. Previously a Senior Policy Analyst, Mr. Bashir became Deputy Director of Policy and Research in 2009. Before coming to the Commission he worked as a consultant with the United Nations and at various non-governmental organizations focusing on human rights and international conflict resolution with a concentration in the Near East region. Mr. Bashir is a specialist in ethnic and religious conflict and preventive diplomacy. He has traveled widely in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa and has lectured and published on an array of topics in international affairs, including peace and security, human rights, religious extremism, and U.S. foreign policy and has advocated a range of international human rights issues before Members of Congress and senior U.S. government officials. He has been interviewed by major national and international media, including CNN, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, Associated Press, and Voice of America, as well as regionally-focused media, such as Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera, Arab News, and BBC Arabic and Persian Services. Mr. Bashir holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Richmond and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.
Tom Carter joined the Commission in March 2009. Prior to that, he was the Communications Director at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest law
firm protecting the free expression of all religious traditions
. A graduate of Susquehanna University and Unification Theological Seminary, Tom spent 25 years reporting in Washington, and around the world. On the Washington Times foreign desk, Tom focused on human rights
in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and global health issues, including HIV,
malaria, and tuberculosis. He interviewed dozens of international
leaders, from the Dalai Lama and Benazir Bhutto, to heads of state including
Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Mexico's Vicente Fox,
Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, and Botswana's Festus Mogae. After three reporting trips to Cuba, he was banned from returning when his
articles on human rights activists angered government officials. Tom and his wife Chizuko have been married for 26 years. They have two
grown children.
Elizabeth K. Cassidy joined the Commission in 2007 as International Legal Specialist and became Deputy Director for Policy and Research in 2009. Previously, she was Assistant Executive Director of UN Watch, a non-governmental organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where she monitored and analyzed United Nations affairs, with a particular focus on the U.N.'s Geneva-based human rights bodies. Before UN Watch, Ms. Cassidy taught courses in constitutional law, comparative law, and international human rights law at Princeton University, Seton Hall University School of Law and the University of Namibia and worked as a legal consultant to several human rights NGOs in Windhoek, Namibia. She also has practiced law in the Washington, D.C. office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and worked as a judicial clerk to the Hon. Richard Nygaard of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Hon. William Bassler of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Ms. Cassidy holds a B.A. in international politics from Wesleyan University, a J.D. from American University's Washington College of Law, and a LL.M in comparative constitutional law from the University of Stellenbosch.
Tiffany Lynch is a policy analyst at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, where her work focuses on refugee and asylum issues, and religious freedom in Latin America, and Africa. She has been with the Commission since February 2006. Ms. Lynch came to the Commission after receiving a Master's degree in Anthropology and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked at the Stanhope Centre for Communication Policy and Research researching freedom of the press issues in East Africa and spent two and a half years at the National Endowment for Democracy where she managed the International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy, a World Movement for Democracy network of parliamentarians dedicated to the promotion of democracy and the protection of democratic parliamentarians. Ms. Lynch received a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Political Science and minor in French from the University of Indiana.
Jackie Wolcott is Executive Director of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. She has a long career in government executive positions, most recently as Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation (2008 - 2009). In this capacity, she represented the United States with counterpart governments to develop international cooperation that supports civil nuclear power expansion globally while reducing risks of nuclear proliferation, consistent with the Joint Declaration on Nuclear Energy and Nonproliferation announced by Presidents Bush and Putin in 2007. Prior to this appointment, she served since February 2006 as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Security Council handling the full range of international security issues before the Council. 
