“Democracy Assistance in U.S. Foreign Policy: Fostering in Infrastructure of Democracy”
Thomas E. Garrett, formerly with International Republican Institute
Patrick Merloe, formerly with National Democratic Institute
Thomas E. Garrett concluded his seven-year tenure as Secretary General of the Community of Democracies in September 2023, having worked in the field of politics and advocacy for more than three decades. Prior to his appointment as the CoD Secretary General, he supported reformers and democrats across the world with his work at the International Republican Institute (IRI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that supports democracy, civil society, women and youth political empowerment and democratic governance in more than 80 countries. He joined IRI in November 1994, first serving as resident program director in Ukraine. Garrett later oversaw democracy strengthening programs from Kyiv in Belarus and Moldova as well. Following impactful service with IRI in Mongolia and Indonesia, he became its regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. In 2009 he became IRI’s vice president for programs, overseeing a global portfolio of more than 200 staff in offices in 32 countries. In his time at IRI, Tom Garrett directly led more than 325 training programs on topics relating to political participation. He has worked on election observation missions in Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Mali, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tunisia and Ukraine.
An enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation, Garrett originally moved from Oklahoma to Washington, D.C. to join the Federal government to work in support of indigenous rights. This is his third appearance at TCFR; he spoke to us in September 2014 about IRI’s work in Tunisia and in March 2022 about the U.S. role in democracy promotion.
Patrick Merloe spent almost thirty years at the National Democratic Institute, overseeing global program strategy and implementation for NDI’s 60+ country offices. He worked particularly on citizen-based electoral monitoring and reform advocacy; political party electoral integrity; legal framework development; international election observation; global and regional network development; and international norms and standards. Mr. Merloe led international delegations on political integrity and electoral conflict mitigation and built consortia for multi-million-dollar programming in liaison with partner organizations and governmental and intergovernmental entities. In addition to his frequent public speaking and media appearances, he has published more than a dozen articles, papers and handbooks. He has a B.A. from Temple University and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.