The White House National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters with senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials, and is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Since its inception in 1947 during the administration of President Harry S. Truman, the function of the Council has been to advise and assist the President on national security and foreign policies. The Council also serves as the President's principal arm for coordinating these policies among various government agencies. The Council has counterparts in the national security councils of many other nations.
Kissinger Associates, Inc. is a New York City-based international geopolitical consulting firm, founded and run by Henry Kissinger since 1982. The firm assists its clients in identifying strategic partners and investment opportunities and advising them on government relations.
Ronald Alan Klain is an American attorney, political consultant, and former lobbyist serving as White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden. A Democrat, he was previously chief of staff to two vice presidents, Al Gore from 1995 to 1999 and Biden from 2009 to 2011. He was also appointed by President Barack Obama as White House Ebola Response Coordinator after the appearance of Ebola virus cases in the United States, serving from 2014 to 2015. Throughout 2020 he worked as a senior advisor to Biden's presidential campaign. Following his victory, Biden announced on November 12 that Klain would serve as White House chief of staff.
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.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP is an American law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Boston. It was formed in 2004 through the merger of the Boston-based firm Hale and Dorr and the Washington-based firm Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, and employs more than 1,000 attorneys worldwide. WilmerHale ranked second in the United States in The American Lawyer's list of top law firms. Notable alumni include former FBI Director Robert Mueller, Special Counsel to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election;Seth Waxman, former Solicitor General of the United States; Ken Salazar, former United States senator from Colorado and United States Secretary of the Interior; and Jamie Gorelick, former United States Deputy Attorney General.
Rufus Hawkins Yerxa is an American lawyer and former U.S. government and international official. He is currently a Senior Advisor with the global consulting firm McClarty Associates. He served as Deputy United States Trade Representative during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations, and served for 11 years as Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). From 2016 to 2021 he was President of the National Foreign Trade Council.
The White House Office is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The White House Office is headed by the White House chief of staff, who is also the head of the Executive Office of the President. The staff work for and report directly to the president, including West Wing staff and the president's senior advisers. Almost all of the White House Office staff are political appointees of the president, do not require Senate confirmation and can be dismissed at the discretion of the president. Aside from Cabinet secretaries and Supreme Court justices, whose nominations require the approval of the Senate, the President of the United States has the authority to appoint people to high-level positions within the federal government unilaterally.
Bruce Reed is an American political advisor and non-profit administrator who was the president of the Broad Foundation. Prior to assuming that role in December 2013, he served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and as CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). On December 22, 2020, it was announced that Reed would serve as a White House deputy chief of staff in the Biden administration, along with Jen O'Malley Dillon.
Thomas Franklin "Mack" McLarty, III is an American business and political leader who served as President Bill Clinton's first White House Chief of Staff from 1993 to June 1994, and subsequently as Counselor to the President and Special Envoy for the Americas, before leaving government service in June 1998.
Thomas Edward Donilon is an American lawyer, business executive, and former government official who served as the 23rd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013. Donilon also worked in the Carter and Clinton administrations, including as Chief of Staff of the U.S. State Department. He is now Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute, the firm's global think tank.
Brian Christopher Deese is an American economic and political advisor who is the 13th Director of the National Economic Council, serving under President Joe Biden. He also served as a senior advisor to President Barack Obama. Earlier in the Obama administration, Deese served as the deputy director and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget. Deese also served as deputy director of the National Economic Council. Deese served as the Global Head of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock.
Steven J. Ricchetti is an American political aide serving as a Counselor to the President under President Joe Biden. He was the chairman of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. Ricchetti previously served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Biden during the Obama administration and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations under President Bill Clinton. In between stints in Democratic administrations, Ricchetti has worked as a lobbyist.
Francisco J. "Frank" Sánchez is an American lawyer and business advisor, former Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade at the Department of Commerce in the Obama administration.
Richard R. Burt is an American businessman and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Germany and was a chief negotiator of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Prior to his diplomatic career, Burt worked as director of a non-governmental organization and from 1977 to 1980 was a national security correspondent for The New York Times.
Antony John Blinken is an American government official and diplomat serving as the 71st United States secretary of state since January 26, 2021. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017 under President Barack Obama.
Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas is a Cuban-American government official and attorney who has served as the seventh United States secretary of homeland security since February 2, 2021. During the Obama administration, he also served in the Department of Homeland Security, first as director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009–2013), and then as deputy secretary of DHS (2013–2016).
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American political advisor who currently serves as the United States National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden. He was previously the deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden, deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State, senior advisor to the U.S. government at the Iran nuclear negotiations and senior policy advisor to Clinton's 2016 presidential election campaign, as well as visiting professor at Yale Law School.
John Marshall Mitnick is an American lawyer who served as General Counsel for the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Puneet Talwar is an American diplomat who is the nominee to be the United States Ambassador to Morocco. He previously served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs from 2014 to November 2015. Talwar served as a top Middle East advisor to Barack Obama and played a central role in the backchannel diplomacy that produced the Iran nuclear deal. Prior to working in the White House, he was a top advisor to then-Senator Joe Biden on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for twelve years.
Howard David Krein is an American otolaryngologist, plastic surgeon, and business executive. He is the husband of Ashley Biden, the daughter of United States President Joe Biden. He is an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University and is a founding partner and co-director of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Facial Aesthetic and Reconstructive Center. Krein is the chief medical officer at StartUp Health, a venture capital and health technology firm. He served on the Biden Cancer Initiative's board of directors from 2017 to 2019. Krein has advised the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign on its COVID-19 pandemic response in an unofficial role.