William Bennett
William Bennett

William Bennett, the nation's first drug czar and third Secretary of Education, has signed a $180K contract with Qatar’s DC embassy to help develop a communications strategy related to the Gulf State’s funding of US colleges.

Qatar is the biggest foreign donor to US universities since 1986, shelling out $6.3B.

Top US schools such as Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, Weill Cornell Medical Colleges, Northwestern University, Texas A&M University and Virginia Commonwealth University have established branch campuses in Qatar.

Bennett will promote understanding of the funding decisions make by the Qatari government and the nature of the education curriculum, according to his FARA filing.

As senior education advisor to the Embassy, the 82-year-old will make “efforts to publicize the fact that Qatari higher education efforts do not support radical Islamicist movements or positions, and his engaging in publicized efforts—potentially including communications to U.S. political office holders—would help dispel contrary notions."

He will write op-eds, blogs on educational matters and make himself available for interviews or testimony before Congress.

Bennett placed an opinion piece on Fox News last July that was titled “An American education partnership in Qatar brings surprising benefits to the Middle East.”