Jake Sullivan

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Jake Sullivan
Jake-Sullivan-WH.png
28th United States National Security Advisor
Assumed office
January 20, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
DeputyJonathan Finer
Preceded byRobert C. O'Brien
National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States
In office
February 26, 2013 – August 1, 2014
Vice PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byAntony Blinken
Succeeded byColin Kahl
Director of Policy Planning
In office
February 4, 2011 – February 15, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byAnne-Marie Slaughter
Succeeded byDavid McKean
Personal details
Born
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan

(1976-11-28) November 28, 1976 (age 44)
Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Margaret Goodlander
EducationYale University (BA, JD)
Magdalen College, Oxford (MPhil)

Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan (born November 28, 1976) is an American political advisor who serves as the United States National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden. He was previously a senior policy advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential election campaign and her deputy chief of staff at the Department of State when she was Secretary of State. Sullivan was also a senior advisor to the U.S. government for the Iran nuclear negotiations and a visiting professor at Yale Law School.

Sullivan worked in the Obama administration as deputy assistant to the president and the vice president's national security advisor, when Biden was U.S. Vice President. He also served as the Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State.

On November 23, 2020, President-elect Biden announced that Sullivan would be appointed as his national security advisor. He took office January 20, 2021.

Early life and education[]

Sullivan was born in Burlington, Vermont, and grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[1][2] His father worked for the Star Tribune and was a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and his mother was a high school guidance counselor.[1] Sullivan attended Southwest High School in Minneapolis, where he graduated in 1994. He was a debate champion, president of the student council, and voted "most likely to succeed" in his class.[3]

Sullivan attended Yale University, where he majored in international studies and political science and was awarded the Alpheus Henry Snow Prize.[4][2] He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa his senior year and graduated summa cum laude with distinction in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts.[4][5] Sullivan won a Rhodes Scholarship[6] to attend Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied international relations.[4] He was awarded a Marshall Scholarship the same year but turned it down in favor of the Rhodes.[4] While at Oxford, Sullivan served as a managing editor of the Oxford International Review and was on the second place team at the 2000 World Universities Debating Championship in Sydney, Australia.[6][2] In 2000, he graduated with a Master of Philosophy in international relations.[2] He graduated with a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2003.[5]

At Yale, he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Daily News. He was a member of the Yale Debate Association and earned a Truman Scholarship in his junior year.[4][7] He also worked for Brookings Institution president Strobe Talbott at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.[8]

Career[]

Early career[]

After graduating from law school, Sullivan clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then for Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court.[3][8][9] After his clerkships, Sullivan returned to his hometown of Minneapolis to practice law at Faegre & Benson[8] and taught law as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.[3] After Faegre & Benson, Sullivan worked as chief counsel to Senator Amy Klobuchar,[3][9] who connected him to Clinton.[1]

Obama administration[]

In 2008, Sullivan was an advisor to Hillary Clinton during the primary cycle and then to Barack Obama during the general election campaign. He prepared Clinton and Obama for debates.[7] When Clinton became Secretary of State, Sullivan joined as her deputy chief of staff[10] and Director of Policy Planning, and he travelled with her to 112 countries.[11]

Sullivan worked in the Obama administration as Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.[12] He became Biden's top security aide in February 2013 after Clinton stepped down as Secretary of State.[13] In those posts, he played a role in shaping U.S. foreign policy towards Libya, Syria, and Myanmar.[9]

On June 20, 2014, The New York Times reported that Sullivan was leaving the administration in August 2014 to teach at Yale Law School.[11] As of 2020, he was a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.[14]

Iran nuclear negotiations[]

Main article: Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

In November 2013, the Associated Press reported that officials in the Obama administration had been in secret contact with Iranian officials throughout 2013 about the feasibility of an agreement over the Iranian nuclear program. The report stated that American officials, including Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, Senior White House Iran Advisor Puneet Talwar, and Sullivan, had secretly met with their Iranian counterparts at least five times face to face in Oman.[15] Those efforts paved the way for the Geneva interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, known officially as the Joint Plan of Action, signed by Iran and the P5+1 countries in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 24, 2013.[9][16]

Since then, Sullivan has regularly attended bilateral consultations with Iran in Geneva as a member of the U.S. delegation on the Iran nuclear negotiations.[12][17]

2016 Clinton presidential campaign[]

Sullivan was Hillary Clinton's chief foreign policy adviser during her 2016 bid for the presidency.[18] He was reported to be the only senior staffer who kept on asking if it wasn't a good idea for her to spend more time in the Midwestern swing states as the election approached.[19] Sullivan was prominent in many of the Podesta emails released by WikiLeaks during the 2016 US presidential election, including Sullivan questioning if Democratic primary candidate Martin O'Malley's 100% clean energy by 2050 plan was "realistic".[20] After the election, he confessed to feeling "a keen sense of responsibility" for Clinton's defeat.[21]

Between 2016 and 2020 campaigns[]

After his work with the Clinton campaign, Sullivan joined Macro Advisory Partners, a risk advisory company, in January 2017; Sullivan was paid at least $135,000 by Macro Advisory Partners.[22][23] While at the London based advisory firm Macro Advisory Partners, Sullivan advised a number of companies including Uber.[24] Following the Clinton campaign, he joined the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire as a member of the faculty and senior fellow.[25]

Between 2017 and May 2020, Sullivan served on an advisory council for Microsoft; in 2020, he was paid $45,000 for this work.[26] Given Sullivan's role in crafting U.S. cyber security policy in the Biden administration, including overseeing the government's response to January's cyberattack on Microsoft, concerns have been raised about potential conflicts of interest.[26][27]

Biden administration[]

Sullivan sitting with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the U.S. national security team, August 18, 2021

On November 22, 2020, Sullivan was announced as President-elect Joe Biden's choice to be National Security Advisor.[28] Upon his appointment, Sullivan stated that the early priorities of Biden's National Security Council (NSC) are the COVID-19 pandemic, "restructuring the NSC to make public health a permanent national security priority", and China relations.[2] He also emphasized that the Biden administration aimed to repair American relations with allies that he regarded as being damaged during the Trump administration.[2]

Sullivan said that Afghanistan fell to the Taliban because the Afghan army lacked the "will" to defend its country.[29]

Personal life[]

Sullivan is married to Margaret Goodlander, a former advisor to senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain and law clerk to Chief Judge Merrick Garland and Justice Stephen Breyer.[30][31]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Gihring, Tim (February 9, 2016). "'We just go to Jake': How a Southwest High grad became Hillary Clinton's go-to guy". MinnPost. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Bertrand, Natasha (November 27, 2020). "The inexorable rise of Jake Sullivan". Politico. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Henry, David (November 27, 2013). "Jake Sullivan: Minneapolis Native Among Those to Hatch Iranian Nuclear Deal". MinnPost. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Scholastic Prizes". Yale Bulletin & Calendar. 26 (33). Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications (Yale University). 1998. Archived from the original on May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "State Department Policy Planning Director and Hillary Clinton Advisor Jake Sullivan '03 Will Discuss American Leadership Friday". Yale Law School. October 25, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Vice President Biden Announces Jake Sullivan as New National Security Advisor". Office of the Vice President of the United States. February 26, 2013.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Jake Sullivan". The Washington Post. July 23, 2012. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c Rogin, Josh (January 25, 2011). "Jake Sullivan to Become State Department Director of Policy Planning". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Pace, Julie (December 24, 2013). "Vanishing Adviser Reappears as Iran Policy Player". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  10. ^ Nather, David (April 14, 2015). "Clinton names top 3 wonks for campaign". Politico. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Landler, Mark (June 20, 2014). "Biden Adviser Leaving Washington, but It May Not Be for Long". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 16, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2016. he was one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s closest advisers, at her side in all 112 countries she visited as secretary of state.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "U.S. Delegation Travel to Geneva for Talks With Iran on Its Nuclear Program" (Press release). U.S. Department of State, Office of the Spokesperson. August 6, 2014. Archived from the original on January 21, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  13. ^ "Vice President Biden Announces Jake Sullivan as New National Security Advisor" (Press release). The White House, Office of the Vice President. February 26, 2013. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  14. ^ "Jake Sullivan". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  15. ^ "Report Claims Secret US–Iran Talks Laid Groundwork for Nuclear Deal". Fox News Channel. Associated Press. November 24, 2013. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  16. ^ "A Timeline of Key Events in US–Iran Negotiations". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. November 25, 2004. Archived from the original on December 9, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2013.
  17. ^ "U.S. Delegation Travel to Geneva for Talks With Iran on Its Nuclear Program" (Press release). U.S. Department of State, Office of the Spokesperson. September 3, 2014. Archived from the original on January 21, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  18. ^ "USC/Times poll: Sanders and Clinton locked in a tight race in final days before California primary". Los Angeles Times. June 2, 2016. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  19. ^ Thrush, Glenn (December 9, 2016). "10 Crucial Decisions That Reshaped America". Politico. Archived from the original on December 11, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016. He was also the only one of the dozen aides who dialed in for Clinton’s daily scheduling call who kept on asking if it wasn't a good idea for her to spend more time in the Midwestern swing states in the closing days of the campaign.
  20. ^ Cooper, Ryan (October 26, 2016). "This hacked Clinton campaign email shows why 'serious' people just don't get climate change". The Week. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  21. ^ Jaffe, Greg (July 14, 2017). "Lessons in disaster: A top Clinton adviser searches for meaning in a shocking loss". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  22. ^ Guyer, Jonathan (July 8, 2020). "How a Biden Adviser Got a Gig With Uber". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020.
  23. ^ Schwartz, Brian (March 20, 2021). "Biden's closest advisors have ties to big business and Wall Street with some making millions". CNBC. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  24. ^ "Watchdogs concerned about some Biden appointees' opaque consulting work". ABC News. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  25. ^ "Biden Names UNH Faculty Member Jake Sullivan As National Security Advisor". New Hampshire Public Radio. November 23, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b Bose, Nandita (March 22, 2021). "Biden aides had ties to large tech companies, disclosures show". Reuters. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  27. ^ Day, Chad (March 21, 2021). "Biden White House's Ties to Big Tech Are Detailed in New Disclosures". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  28. ^ Pager, Tyler; Epstein, Jennifer; Mohsin, Saleha (November 22, 2020). "Biden to Name Longtime Aide Blinken as Secretary of State". Bloomberg News. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  29. ^ "National security adviser: Afghan army lacked 'will' to defend its country". The Hill. August 16, 2021.
  30. ^ Jakes, Lara; Crowley, Michael; Sanger, David E. (November 23, 2020). "Biden Chooses Antony Blinken, Defender of Global Alliances, as Secretary of State". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  31. ^ "Margaret Goodlander". Center for a New American Security. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2016.

External links[]

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