US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (European)

An American lawyer belonging to the Democratic Party, and the 28th US National Security Advisor, he held senior positions in the administrations of several US presidents, such as the position of Policy Director for President Barack Obama, National Security Advisor to Joe Biden, former Vice President, and Deputy Chief of Staff of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He also served as a senior advisor to the US federal government in the Iranian nuclear negotiations.

Birth and upbringing

His original name is Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan, and he was born on November 28, 1976 in the city of Burlington, in the American state of Vermont, into a Jewish family of Irish origins.

His family moved to Minnesota, specifically to Minneapolis; His father worked as an editor at the Star Tribune newspaper and a professor at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communications, while his mother was a guidance counselor at the city's high school.

Jake Sullivan is married to lawyer and consultant Margaret Goodland.

Study and training

Sullivan attended Southwest High School in Minneapolis, from which he graduated in 1994. During his high school years, he distinguished himself with his speaking abilities and won the “Debate” championship, and was elected president of the student council.

He joined Yale University in 1994, majoring in international studies and political science, and graduated in 1998 with an honors degree with distinction in political science.

Jake Sullivan graduated with a Master's degree in Philosophy in 2000 and won two scholarships, the first from the Rhodes Foundation and the second from the Marshall Foundation in the same year, but he preferred the Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford in Britain.

He graduated with a Doctorate in Law from Yale Law School in 2003.

Jake Sullivan during a press conference at the White House (Reuters)

Political career

Sullivan's entry into the world of politics was the result of his work with US Senator Amy Klobuchar, who introduced him to Hillary Clinton to become her advisor in 2008 during the first round of the US presidential elections, and then advisor to Barack Obama, who then won the presidency of the United States.

From 2011 to 2013, Sullivan served as “Director of Policy Planning” at the State Department during the administration of President Barack Obama. He also served as Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During these years, he played a major role in completing many political agreements, the most prominent of which was the agreement Iranian nuclear.

Sullivan regularly attended bilateral consultations with Iran in Geneva and was a key member of the US delegation on the Iranian nuclear negotiations that began in November 2013.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton re-selected Sullivan to be her chief foreign policy advisor during her then candidacy for the presidency in the United States of America, and he appeared on several occasions before the media to defend her against the accusations of her then rival, Donald Trump, about her “role” in establishing ISIS and her use of her email. Private in secret and dangerous correspondence when she was US Secretary of State.

In 2019, Sullivan published an article in which he supported Biden’s candidacy for the presidency and criticized Trump’s handling of US national security files - who was president of America from 2016 to 2020.

On November 22, 2020, it was announced that Sullivan had been selected to serve as National Security Advisor to President-elect Joe Biden.

Jake Sullivan graduated from law school and worked as a notary in the office of Judge Guido Calabrese (Reuters)

His ideas and policies

Sullivan adopts policies to support manufacturing in all sectors, especially health, artificial intelligence, and financial technology, to advance the United States economy, and believes that his country’s foreign policy must follow balance in all files, and avoid the policy of collision followed by a number of previous American presidents, the most recent of whom is Donald Trump, As he did with Iran.

Upon his appointment as National Security Advisor to President Biden, Sullivan stated that the first priority of the National Security Council is the Corona pandemic, then working to restructure the National Security Council and making public health a permanent national security priority, in addition to relations with China and working to reform American relations with allies, which he considered important. It was damaged during the Trump administration.

Sullivan believes that the United States should seek to protect its domestic interests, focusing on shaping an inclusive, resilient, prosperous, and sustainable American economy and then focusing on geopolitics and on maintaining US superiority over China.

Sullivan identified the five pillars of the Biden administration’s international economic agenda, which he called “foreign policy for the middle class,” which are:

  • “A Modern American Industrial Strategy” aims to stimulate and support private investment in sectors that are critical to the prosperity and security of the United States.

  • Work with other advanced democracies and developing nations to ensure that U.S. allies adopt similar policies to improve “capacity, resilience, and inclusiveness.”

  • The United States is moving away from traditional trade deals that focus on market access and embracing “new international economic partnerships” that address global challenges such as climate change, digital security, job creation, and corporate tax competition.

  • Seeking to generate wealth by investing in emerging economies and providing aid to countries facing debt default.

  • Finally, “protecting America’s core technologies,” which could have the greatest impact on the future of the global economy.

Jake Sullivan held several political, judicial and security positions (Reuters)

Jobs and responsibilities

  • After graduating from law school, Sullivan clerked for Judge Guido Calabrese of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and then clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court.

  • After this internship, Sullivan returned to Minneapolis to practice law at the law firm of Viger & Bensen and taught law as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

  • After working with the Clinton campaign, Sullivan joined Macro Consulting, a law firm in London.

  • He joined the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire as a faculty member.

  • Sullivan also served as senior policy advisor to Joe Biden when he was Vice President Barack Obama.

  • Between 2017 and 2020, Sullivan served on Microsoft's advisory board due to his role in shaping US cybersecurity policy.

Source: websites