THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release August 10, 1993 Statement by the Press Secretary The President has appointed Richard Schifter to serve on the National Security Council staff as Special Assistant to the President and Counselor. He is responsible for special projects. Mr. Schifter has a distinguished record of public service. >From 1983 to 1992, he served successively as U.S. Representative on the U.N. Human Rights Commission; Deputy U.S. Representative in the U.N. Security Council, with the rank of Ambassador; and Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. He holds the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Schifter's prior White House assignments include membership in the President's Task Force on Federal Indian Policy under President Johnson, Counsel to the Director of Food for Peace under President Kennedy and attorney for the President's Materials Policy Commission under President Truman. Mr. Schifter has practiced law in the Washington, D.C. office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, specializing in Federal Indian law. He has also been active in education affairs, serving for 20 years as a member of the Maryland State Board of Education, including eight years as vice president and four years as president. He chaired the Governor's Commission on the Funding of Education for Handicapped Children and the Values Education Commission. His wife, Lilo Schifter, also an attorney, serves on the Maryland Public Service Commission. The Schifters have five children and eight grandchildren. Mr. Schifter graduated summa cum laude from the City University of New York and received his law degree from Yale Law School. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Born in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Schifter came to the U.S. as a refugee from the Nazi regime. His parents perished in the Holocaust. # # #