Appointments, appointments: new posts for Joel Rubin, Eric Schwartz, Condi Rice and Gen. Jones

Joel Rubin, the deputy director and chief operating officer of the progressive National Security Network, is moving to the Ploughshares Fund to become its director of policy and government relations. A former State Department Egypt desk officer, congressional staffer and Peace Corps volunteer, Rubin will spearhead government relations for the global security group. His focus will be on the nuclear weapons budget, U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reductions, and promoting a diplomatic resolution of Iran's nuclear program.

Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees & Migration Eric Schwartz has informed colleagues that he is leaving the State Department to become dean of the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, where he will succeed his mentor, former USAID administrator Brian Atwood. Schwartz will stay on at Foggy Bottom until October, when a successor is expected to be in place.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice--recently floated as a possible GOP vice presidential running mate by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels--and former Obama National Security Advisor Gen. Jim Jones are kicking off a new Center for Strategic and International Studies' initiative on U.S. leadership in global development. A core goal of the initiative, co-sponsored by Chevron, is to develop "actionable, bipartisan" policy recommendations by 2012 on the "best ways to integrate U.S. public and private sector resources and interests with NGOs and foreign governments to create sustainable partnerships" to advance global development.