Julianne Smith is an American foreign policy advisor and diplomat who served as the United States Permanent Representative to NATO in the Biden administration from 2021 until 2024[2]. She previously served as deputy national security advisor to then-Vice President Biden in the Obama administration.
Julianne Smith | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 25th United States Ambassador to NATO | |
| In office December 6, 2021 – October 23, 2024[1] | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Kay Bailey Hutchison |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1970 |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Xavier University (BA) American University (MA) |
Education
editSmith earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications and French from Xavier University and a Master of Arts in international relations from American University. She also studied French at the University of Paris, Sorbonne for a year and German at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich for one year.[3]
Career
editNGO experience
editFrom 2000 to 2003, Smith worked as a program officer at the German Marshall Fund. She then joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a senior fellow,[4] where among other accomplishments in November 2006 she edited Transforming NATO (...again) - A Primer for the NATO Summit in Riga 2006,[5] and in 2008 she published The NATO-Russia Relationship: Defining Moment or Déjà Vu?.[6]
Obama administration
editFrom 2009 to 2012, she served as the director of European and NATO policy at the United States Department of Defense, where she co-wrote the 2010 NATO Strategic Concept document,[7] under Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
From April 2012 to June 2013, she served as deputy national security advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden.[8]
Later NGO experience
editFrom 2014 to 2018, she worked at the Center for a New American Security. She was also a fellow at the Robert Bosch Stiftung for one year. A senior advisor post at WestExec Advisors followed the consultancy's formation in 2017.
Smith co-founded the Leadership Council for Women in National Security,[9][10] which officially launched on 25 June 2019.[11]
She worked as an advisor to a German consultancy called Berlin Global Advisors and worked at the American Academy in Berlin,[12][13] while she penned such essays in foreign policy magazines as "NATO in the Age of Trump".[14]
A 2021 investigation in The American Prospect found that Smith, "who listed Boeing and SoftBank as clients, earned $34,000 as a WestExec consultant while holding down a full-time role at the think tank German Marshall Fund."[15]
Biden administration
editIn January 2021, Smith became a senior advisor to the United States secretary of state.[16]
Representative to NATO
editOn June 15, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Smith to serve as the United States permanent representative to NATO.[16] On September 15, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On October 19, 2021, her nomination was reported favorably out of committee.[17] Her nomination was confirmed by United States Senate on November 18, 2021 by voice vote.[18]
Punditry career
editSmith has written op-ed columns for The New York Times, Lawfare, Washington Monthly, Foreign Affairs, and The National Interest.[19] She has also appeared on NPR programs, including 1A, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition.[20][21][22]
Personal life
editSmith speaks German and French.[16] She and her husband have two sons.[23]
References
edit- ^ https://x.com/USAmbNATO/status/1848987436233150544?t=KoY6YSJWSD6Bu-NLCCzowg&s=09
- ^ US NATO (October 21, 2024). “Immense Sense of Pride and Accomplishment” – Ambassador Julianne Smith on her historic NATO tenure. Retrieved November 17, 2024 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Julianne Smith". www.cnas.org. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
- ^ "Julie Smith Joins GMF as Director of Asia and Future of Geopolitics Programs". The German Marshall Fund of the United States. 2019-09-03. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
- ^ Smith, Julianne (November 2006). "Transforming NATO (...again) - A Primer for the NATO Summit in Riga 2006" (PDF). CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES.
- ^ Smith, Julianne, The NATO-Russia Relationship: Defining Moment or Déjà Vu? Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2008.
- ^ Schifrin, Nick (29 June 2022). "U.S. ambassador to NATO discusses Europe's biggest security crisis in decades". PBS NewsHour. YouTube.
- ^ "Biden Nominates Envoys To Israel And Mexico — And Hero Pilot To Aviation Post". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
- ^ Steven Erlanger. (27 January 2022). "A ‘NATO Nerd’ Thrown Into the Crisis Over Russia and Ukraine". New York Times website Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ LCWINS Alumni. Leadership Council for Women in National Security website Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ LCWINS About page
- ^ White House. Department of State. (3 December 2021). " U.S Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization". U.S. Mission to NATO website Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ Staff biography. Center for a New American Security website Retrieved 28 January 2022.
- ^ Smith, Julianne; Townsend, Jim (9 July 2018). "NATO in the Age of Trump". Foreign Affairs Published by the Council on Foreign Relations.
- ^ GUYER, JONATHAN; GRIM, RYAN (6 July 2021). "Meet the Consulting Firm That's Staffing the Biden Administration". The American Prospect, Inc.
- ^ a b c "President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Nine More Individuals to Serve as Ambassadors". The White House. 2021-06-15. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
- ^ "SFRC APPROVES 33 CRITICAL FOREIGN POLICY NOMINATIONS" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. October 19, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "PN736 - Nomination of Julianne Smith for Department of State, 117th Congress (2021-2022)". www.congress.gov. 2021-10-19. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
- ^ "Articles by Julianne Smith | The New York Times, Financial Times, Time Magazine Journalist | Muck Rack". muckrack.com. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
- ^ "U.S. Wants NATO to Step Up in Afghanistan". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
- ^ "Europe's "Existential Threat" : 1A". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
- ^ "Trump's Tough Talk On German Defense Spending Is Straining A Decades-Long Friendship". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
- ^ "Getting to know EMPA commencement speaker Julianne Smith". Hertie School. Retrieved 2021-06-20.