
In December 2007, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Public-Private Partnership, which seeks to create economic and educational opportunities in the Palestinian territories] He also serves as the cochair of the U.S.-Vietnamese Dialogue on Agent Orange, which in January 2008 announced completion of a project to contain the dioxin left behind by the U.S. at the Da Nang air base and plans to build health centers and a dioxin laboratory in the affected regions