Local Resident Recognized for Helping Speed Release of American Prisoners in Iran

Ambassador William Miller, a longtime resident of Hollin Hills, was recognized last Thursday in a ceremony by the Search for Common Ground organization for his work helping to release three U.S. hikers imprisoned in Iran.

Miller, now retired as an ambassador, is senior advisor for the Search for Common Ground’s United States-Iran Program, and has firsthand experience working in Iran. He served as political officer for the U.S. Embassy in Tehran from 1962 to 1964 as well as the U.S. Consulate in Isfahan, Iran from 1959 to 1962. 

The three hikers, Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, were imprisoned in Iran—Bauer and Fattal for more than two years and Shourd for 410 days—on charges of espionage. Bauer and Fattal were released last month and Shourd was released earlier.

Search for Common Ground presented the 2011 Common Ground award to Miller in a ceremony Thursday evening held at the Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington, attended by relatives of the hikers and others. The Search for Common Ground’s program prides itself on using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to get results. 

During the hikers’ incarceration, individuals, organizations, and countries worked for their release. Among them was Miller, who "worked openly and behind the scenes to improve relations between the United States and Iran for many years," Search for Common Ground noted in a news release. "His quiet diplomacy was called upon on the hiker’s behalf." 

This culminated in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s invitation to come to Iran, extended to Miller, Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington. Cardinal McCarrick and Bishop Chane led the clerical delegation that included representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). 

The clerics met with officials at the highest levels, including a meeting with President Ahmadinejad, who assured them that the release would be imminent.  “President Ahmadinejad told us that it was because of our presence that they were able to move the process forward in releasing the hikers," said Bishop Chane.

“They were received as men of learning and deep conviction," Miller said in a news release from Search for Common Ground. "That can have an effect and in this case it did." The hikers were released two days after the delegation returned to Washington. "The return of the hikers to their families is an important step, a confidence-building measure, in the process of re-engagement and the restoration of relations between Iran and the United States," Miller said.

In accepting the award, Miller recited a poem he had written, likening relations between the United States and Iran to a game of chess.

Miller is also a senior fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. His career has included stints with the U.S. Foreign Service, U.S. Senate staff, academia, foundations, and non-profit organizations.

He spent 14 years on Capitol Hill, where he served as the staff director for three different Senate committees, including the Select Committee on Intelligence. Miller has taught at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

Susan Koscis of the Tauxemont community organizes and manages the annual awards ceremony.

Search for Common Ground has offices in both Washington, D.C. and in Brussels, Belgium.