Kevin Kellems, advisor to Bank president Paul Wolfowitz since June 2005, was named director of strategy of the external affairs department in January. Kellem’s responsibilities are to better integrate the role of the department across the World Bank Group, and to “strengthen the Bank’s global public affairs impact”. Before joining the Bank, Kellems served as communications director for US vice president Dick Cheney and advisor to Richard Lugar, chairman of the US senate foreign relations committee. Bank staff are furious that Wolfowitz has made a political appointment in a post normally filled by a competitive process.