Peter Berkowitz


Peter Berkowitz is an American political scientist, former law professor, and United States Department of State employee, currently serving as the Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State.

Education

Berkowitz earned a B.A. in English literature from Swarthmore College in 1981, followed by an M.A. in philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He then earned a J.D. and Ph.D. in political science, both from Yale University.

Career

Berkowitz taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at the Antonin Scalia Law School from 1999 to 2007, and political philosophy in the Department of Government at Harvard University from 1990 to 1999.
In 1997, after Harvard University president Neil Rudenstine rejected the Department of Government's recommendation and denied his tenure, Berkowitz challenged the process by which Rudenstine reached his decision through Harvard's internal grievance procedure. Eventually, in 2000, he brought a lawsuit for breach of contract against Harvard alleging flaws in both the tenure review process and the grievance procedure. In 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court dismissed his case.
He is co-founder and director of the Israel Program on Constitutional Government and is a member of the Policy Advisory Board at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He sits on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Scholars. He has defended George W. Bush and neoconservative policies. He has also written articles on liberalism and conservatism in the United States and on atheism.
In 2003 he penned an article in The Weekly Standard, defending philosopher Leo Strauss from detractors who claimed that Strauss taught an elite group who served in high positions in the Bush administration to secretly manipulate policy for a neoconservative agenda.
Berkowitz formerly served on the foreign policy advisory team in the Rudy Giuliani 2008 presidential campaign.
Berkowitz is known for his critique of American higher education, particularly of campus culture and university governance.
On January 1, 2019, Berkowitz became the Director of Policy Planning in the Trump Administration.