Georgetown announced yesterday that former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith (LAW ’78) will join the faculty of the School of Foreign Service next semester as a visiting professor.

Feith, who served as undersecretary of defense for policy from July 2001 to August 2005 under President Bush, will serve as a visiting professor and distinguished practitioner in national security policy, the university announced Monday in a press release.

Feith said that he will teach a course next semester about the Bush administration’s prosecution of the war on terrorism that will only be open to graduate students. Feith was involved in planning the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Feith said he was contacted by SFS Dean Robert Gallucci about a teaching job shortly after leaving public service.

Gallucci said that Feith “brings a combination of legal, foreign and defense policy-making experience that I am confident will enrich campus discussions” in the press release.

University Spokesman Erik Smulson referred questions about Feith to Gallucci’s office. Gallucci did not return a call seeking comment last night.

Amid speculation that he was considering Feith for an appointment in January, Gallucci said that he had received unusually vocal resistance from SFS faculty members opposed to Feith’s work in the Bush administration, but said he believed Feith would be a valuable addition to the SFS.

Feith said that he did not expect he would feel unwelcome among his colleagues at Georgetown.

“I think it’s a proper academic institution,” he said of Georgetown.

Feith will join a number of other SFS professors with established foreign policy credentials, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, former administrator of the US Agency for International Development Andrew Natsios (COL ’71) and former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet (SFS ’76), all distinguished professors.

Feith noted that he has stayed in close contact with Tenet since the two served together in the Bush administration. He called the chance to work with the former U.S. leaders an “attractive prospect.”

CORRECTION:The article “Douglas Feith Hired as Visiting SFS Professor” (THE HOYA, May 2, 2006, A1) incorrectly stated that Feith had a close relationship with George Tenet since their time serving together in the Bush administration. Feith maintained a close relationship with Tenet while they both served in the administration, not after.