The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the national security council used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security,military,and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House,it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States,and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad is an American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021. Khailzad was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations,serving in the role from 2007 to 2009. Khalilzad was the highest ranking Muslim-American in government at the time he left the position. Prior to this,Khalilzad served in the Bush administration as ambassador to Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005 and Ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007.
Deborah Esther Lipstadt is an American historian and diplomat,best known as author of the books Denying the Holocaust (1993),History on Trial:My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier (2005),The Eichmann Trial (2011),and Antisemitism:Here and Now (2019). She has served as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism since May 3,2022. Since 1993 she has been the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta,Georgia,US.
Elliott Abrams is an American politician and lawyer,who has served in foreign policy positions for presidents Ronald Reagan,George W. Bush,and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a neoconservative. He was a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as the U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela from 2019 to 2021 and as the U.S. Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021.
Paula Jon Dobriansky is an American diplomat,public official,and foreign policy expert who served as Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs (2001–2009) and the President's Envoy to Northern Ireland (2007–2009). A specialist in Central/East European affairs and the former Soviet Union,trans-Atlantic relations,and political-military affairs,Dobriansky held key senior roles in the administrations of five U.S. presidents.
Richard Nathan Haass is an American diplomat. He was president of the Council on Foreign Relations from July 2003 to June 2023,prior to which he was director of policy planning for the United States Department of State and a close advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell in the George W. Bush administration. In October 2022,Haass announced he would be departing from his position at CFR in June 2023. He was succeeded by former U.S. trade representative Michael Froman.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a department of the United States government,part of the Executive Office of the President (EOP),established by United States Congress on May 11,1976,with a broad mandate to advise the President on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs.
David Maclain Hale is an American diplomat and career ambassador,who previously served as the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He is currently a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Wilson Center,on detail from the Department of State.
Robert Malley is an American lawyer,political scientist and specialist in conflict resolution,who was the lead negotiator on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Kurt Michael Campbell is an American diplomat and businessman who served as the United States deputy secretary of state from 2024 to 2025. He previously served as deputy assistant advisor to President Biden and National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific from 2021 to 2024. In this capacity,Campbell had been referred to as the Biden administration's "Asia coordinator" or "Asia czar"—chief architect of Joe Biden's Asia strategy.
Kurt Douglas Volker is an American diplomat who served as George W. Bush's last U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Later he served as executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership and in a volunteer capacity as Donald J. Trump's U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine until his resignation on September 27,2019.
Philip H. Gordon is an American diplomat and international relations scholar. From March 21,2022 to January 20,2025 he served as Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States,Kamala Harris. Earlier in his career,he was Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs (2009–2011) and Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East,North Africa,and the Persian Gulf Region (2013–2015) during the Obama administration.
The Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism is an office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security,Democracy,and Human Rights at the United States Department of State. The office "advances U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism" by developing and implementing policies and projects to support efforts to combat antisemitism.
Kori N. Schake is an American international relations scholar currently serving as Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. She has held several high-level positions in the U.S. Defense and State Departments and on the National Security Council. She was a foreign policy adviser to the McCain-Palin 2008 presidential campaign. Schake is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. She serves on the board of advisors of Foreign Policy Research Institute and the Alexander Hamilton Society. Schake is a member of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee.
Brian H. Hook is an American diplomat,lawyer and government official. In 2021,he joined Cerberus Capital Management as vice chairman for global investments. He is an adjunct professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.
Brett Holden McGurk is an American diplomat,attorney,and academic who served in senior national security positions under presidents George W. Bush,Barack Obama,Donald Trump,and Joe Biden. He served as deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. He most recently led negotiations between the United States,Israel,Egypt,and Qatar to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield is an American diplomat who served as the 31st United States ambassador to the United Nations under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025. She served as the U.S. 18th assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2013 to 2017. Thomas-Greenfield then worked in the private sector as a senior vice president at business strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington,D.C.
Amos J. Hochstein is an American businessman,diplomat,and former lobbyist. He was a top national and economic security official in the Biden administration. Hochstein has worked in the U.S. Congress,has testified before congressional panels and has served in the Barack Obama administration under Secretaries of State Clinton and Kerry. He was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in 2011 and as Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs in 2013. In 2015,President Barack Obama nominated Hochstein to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources but the Senate did not act on the nomination. While at the State Department,Hochstein worked as a close advisor to Vice President Biden. He served in the administration from 2011 to 2017.
Rebecca Lissner is an American political scientist and foreign policy analyst who served as Deputy National Security Adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris from 2022 to 2025. Previously,she was Acting Senior Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council,where she oversaw the creation of the Biden administration's National Security Strategy and directed the Russia Strategy Group. During the Obama administration,Lissner served as Special Advisor to Deputy Secretary of Energy,Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.
