United States Institute of Peace

Robert M. Perito

Robert M. Perito is the Director of the Perito Group, which advises the U.S. and foreign governments on security sector reform. Perito was a senior program officer in the Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations. He joined USIP in 2001 and has worked for the Professional Training program and the Rule of Law program. He was also a senior fellow in the Jennings Randolph Fellowship program. Before joining USIP, he served as deputy director of the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that role, he was responsible for providing policy guidance and program direction for peacekeeping operations in Haiti, Bosnia, East Timor, and Kosovo and in postconflict environments in Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia. Perito previously was a career Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Department of State, retiring with the rank of minister counselor. His assignments included service as deputy executive secretary of the National Security Council (1988–89). He received a Presidential Meritorious Service Award in 1990 for his leadership of the U.S. delegation to the Angola peace talks. Before joining the Foreign Service, Perito served as a rural development officer with the Peace Corps in Nigeria. Perito has taught at Princeton, American, and George Mason Universities and holds a master’s in peace operations policy from George Mason University.