Louis Alan “PETE” WILLIAMS is an American journalist and former government official. Since 1993, he has been a television correspondent for NBC News. He served in the administration of President George H. W. Bush.

Williams was raised in Casper, Wyoming where his mother was a realtor and his father was an orthodontist. “Pete” is a nickname he has used since childhood. After he graduated from Stanford University, where he had originally studied engineering but subsequently changed to journalism, he began his career in local news with the Casper, Wyoming, television station KTWO and its eponymous radio station in 1974.

In 1986, Williams became press secretary for U.S. Representative Dick Cheney and followed Cheney to the United States Department of Defense as Cheney became United States Secretary of Defense to be the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs in 1989 during the George H. W. Bush administration.

Williams became a correspondent for NBC News in late March 1993, after leaving the Defense Department. His main areas of news coverage for NBC include the Department of Justice and Supreme Court. Williams has received three national news Emmy awards.

In 2012, the University of Wyoming awarded Williams an honorary Doctor of Letters, in recognition of his many contributions to journalism. He was praised for his “sound judgment, fair mindedness, impeccable ethics, and dedication to service.”

Williams was outed as gay in 1991 by journalist and activist Michelangelo Signorile. When pressed by reporters, Cheney refused to dismiss Williams (a civilian employee) despite the department’s then-ban on LGBT members of the military. Cheney also implied his opposition to the ban.

Williams announced his retirement in May 2022.