5 4. Has consideration been given to letting the office stay open until legal questions are resolved? A. The office remains open. The Justice Department has stated that it will take no further actions to close the office until the courts have confirmed that the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 requires its closure. 6 5. What is the status of the Palestine Information Office in Washington? A. Is there a court challenge on it? - Yes. In PIO v. Shultz (D.D.C., 87-3085), the PIO challenged the legality of the Department's order directing the PIO to close. In an order dated December 3, 1987, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the Secretary's order. The PIO has appealed, and the appeal is pending before for the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (No. 87-5398). BIOGRAPHY OF HON. RICHARD W. MURPHY, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE, BUREAU OF NEAR EASTERN AND SOUTH ASIAN AFFAIRS Richard W. Murphy was promoted to the rank of Career Minister in 1979. He entered the Foreign Service in 1955 and was assigned as Consular and Administrative Officer in Salisbury, Zimbabwe. He received Arabic language training at Johns Hopkins and the Foreign Service Institute from 1958 to 1960. He served as an Economic Officer in Aleppo, Syria, from 1960 to 1963. From 1963 to 1966 he was a Political Officer in Jida, Saudi Arabia, and from 1966 he served as a Political Officer in Amman, Jordan. Mr. Murphy returned to Washington in 1968 to become Assistant Executive Director for Personnel, Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. He served as County Director for Arabian Peninsula Affairs from 1970 to 1971. Mr. Murphy served as Ambassador to Mauritania from 1971 to the summer of 1974; to Syria from 1974 to 1978; to the Philippines from 1978 to 1981; and to Saudi Arabia since 1981. Mr. Murphy was born in Boston, Massachusetts on July 29, 1929. He received a B.A. degree from Harvard University in 1951 and an A.B. from Cambridge University in 1953. From 1953 to 1955 he served in the Army. He is fluent in Arabic and French. He is a member of the American Foreign Service Association and the Middle East Institute. Mr. Murphy was awarded the Department of State's Superior Honor Award in 1968. dufo to joltel od: 101 10 Mr. Murphy is married to the former Anne Cook; they have a son, Richard, and two daughters, Katherine and Elizabeth. |