Washington, D.C. — The Center for American Progress is welcoming Ambassador David Pressman, Michael Schiffer, and Melissa Zelikoff as senior fellows to its National Security and International Policy Department.
These senior fellows will help launch CAP’s Revitalizing American Leadership Initiative, which seeks to develop new foreign policy and defense ideas to promote stronger, more effective U.S. global leadership. These policies will focus on delivering outcomes for the American people: security through a strong defense sector and more predictable world; economic opportunity through smart trade policy, partnerships in innovation, and harnessing artificial intelligence; public health through investments in preventing the spread of infectious diseases; and a livable planet for future generations.
“I’m thrilled to welcome these outstanding senior fellows to our team,” said Damian Murphy, senior vice president for National Security and International Policy at CAP. “Their deep expertise, leadership, and commitment to advancing a more just and secure world will help strengthen our work at a time of profound challenges and uncertainty.”
Ambassador David Pressman
Ambassador Pressman is joining CAP as a senior fellow focusing on transatlantic security policy and countering authoritarianism. He is an American diplomat, attorney, and strategist who served most recently as U.S. ambassador to Hungary. In this capacity, he led U.S. diplomacy with a challenging ally during the war in Ukraine, successfully leading efforts to lift Hungary’s veto on a range of issues including multiple sanctions packages targeting Russia, the opening of European Union accession talks with Ukraine, and NATO’s historic expansion to include Sweden and Finland.
Previously, he served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Security Council, where he was the senior U.S. negotiator on international disputes around the world. Prior to his service as ambassador, he served as assistant secretary of homeland security.
Ambassador Pressman has worked for four members of the U.S. Cabinet under three presidents. At the White House, as the director for war crimes and atrocities on the National Security Council, his work led to the first presidential directives banning human rights abusers from entering the United States and to the creation of a body for the early prevention of mass atrocities. His work also led to creation of the first White House body devoted to finding and bringing international war criminals to justice and mobilizing U.S. efforts that led to the first U.N. resolution in history recognizing LGBTQ rights as human rights.
In private practice as a national security and human rights litigator, Ambassador Pressman represents clients in existential disputes with governments and strongmen, including hostages held overseas and victims of terrorism.
He co-founded the human rights organization Not on Our Watch and launched and led the Clooney Foundation for Justice, transforming it from a concept into a results-driven global platform advancing accountability and human rights. Ambassador Pressman began his government service as an aide to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. He received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and a law degree from New York University School of Law.
Michael Schiffer
Schiffer is joining CAP as a senior fellow focusing on Asia policy. Previously, he served as the assistant administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Asia bureau from 2022 to 2025. He is currently a partner at Scalare Advisors; an associate fellow in the trade, technology, and geoeconomics program of the International Institute for Strategic Studies; and a distinguished nonresident senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.
Prior to his role at USAID, he was a senior adviser and counselor on the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. From 2009 to 2012, he served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia. Before joining the Department of Defense, he was a program officer at the Stanley Foundation—now the Stanley Center for Peace and Security—and a Council on Foreign Relations Hitachi International Affairs Fellow. He also worked on the staff of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), serving as her national security adviser and legislative director.
Schiffer received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and New York University.
Melissa Zelikoff
Zelikoff is joining CAP as a senior fellow focusing on U.S.-Africa policy. Most recently, she served at the National Security Council, where she directed the U.S. government’s response to the war in Sudan and advised the president on sub-Saharan Africa strategy.
Previously, she spent more than a decade at USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives, leading and managing conflict mitigation and political transition programs in Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, and Ukraine. She also served as chief of staff to the special envoy for the Horn of Africa at the State Department, where she advised on peace negotiations and regional diplomacy.
Earlier in her career, she worked on democracy and human rights issues at the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. She also worked on those issues at the American Bar Association and Freedom House.
She received her undergraduate degree and a Master of Public Policy in international development and economics from George Washington University.
For more information, or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].