Jon Wolfsthal

Jon Wolfsthal is an American national security consultant, government appointee, and columnist.


Jon Wolfsthal
Wolfsthal in 2015
Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
In office
2014–2017
PresidentBarack Obama
Personal details
Alma materEmory University (BA)

Education

Wolfsthal graduated from the New Lincoln School in Manhattan and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Emory University in 1988.[1] He then attended graduate school at George Washington University.[2]

Career

Wolfsthal began his career in government service at the United States Department of Energy during the 1990s in a variety of positions, including in North Korea, where he served in roles including as an on-site monitor under the 1994 "Agreed Framework".[3][4]

From March 2009 to March 2012, Wolfsthal served as a special advisor for Nonproliferation and Nuclear Security in the Office of the Vice President of the United States under Vice President Joe Biden and as Director for Nonproliferation at the National Security Council.[5]

From 2014 to 2017, Wolfsthal served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and Senior Director for Arms Control and Nonproliferation on the United States National Security Council.[6][7] In that post, he was the most senior White House official setting and implementing U.S. Government policy on arms control, nonproliferation, and nuclear policy. During his tenure at the White House Office, he developed U.S. nuclear and nonproliferation policy. He was involved in crafting President Obama's Prague speech delivered in April 2009, served on the delegation to the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit, helped negotiate and gain Senate approval of the New START arms control agreement with Russia, helped draft the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review[8] and coordinated U.S. policy for the 2015 NPT Review Conference.[9][10]

The co-author of Deadly Arsenals: Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction, he was described by the office of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden as "a globally recognized expert on nuclear security and nonproliferation",[5] He served previously as deputy director of the James C. Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Security at Monterey.[4]

Wolfsthal has taught at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced and International Studies, Georgetown University, and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Wolfsthal is a senior advisor at Global Zero. and non-resident fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.[11][12][13]

Wolfsthal has written op-ed columns for Foreign Policy, The New York Times, and HuffPost.[14][15]

As of March 2017, Wolfsthal serves as a member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board.[16]

Notes
  1. "Jon Wolfsthal". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  2. Schneider, Barry R.; Davis, Jim A. (2006). Avoiding the Abyss: Progress, Shortfalls, and the Way Ahead in Combating the WMD Threat. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-275-99033-6.
  3. Behind Enemy Reactors, Jon B. Wolfsthal, New York Times, 2006-10-14. Accessed 2013-10-07.
  4. Jon Wolfsthal Appointed New CNS Deputy Director Archived 2013-10-02 at the Wayback Machine, Monterey Institute for International Studies. Undated, some time before 2012-04-01. Accessed 2013-10-07.
  5. Vice President Biden Announces Key Staff Appointments Archived 2011-07-11 at the Wayback Machine, www.whitehouse.gov, 2013-03-29. Accessed 2013-10-07.
  6. Sanger, David E.; Broad, William J. (2019-02-01). "U.S. Suspends Nuclear Arms Control Treaty With Russia". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  7. NEWS, KYODO. "OPINION: One year after historical visit to Hiroshima". Kyodo News+. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2017-01-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. United States Department of State
  10. "FACT SHEET: The Prague Nuclear Agenda". whitehouse.gov. 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2020-01-16 – via National Archives.
  11. Wolfsthal, Jon. "Jon Wolfsthal". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  12. "Meet the Team". Global Zero. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  13. "2017-2018 Graduate Research Awards for Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation" (PDF). 1 March 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  14. Wolfsthal, Jon B. (2006-10-14). "Opinion | Behind Enemy Reactors". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  15. "Jon Wolfsthal | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  16. "Science and Security Board". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. March 30, 2017.
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