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.
Michèle Angélique Flournoy is an American defense policy advisor who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy under President Bill Clinton and under secretary of defense for policy under President Barack Obama.
Susan Elizabeth Rice is an American diplomat,policy advisor,and public official. As a member of the Democratic Party,Rice served as the 22nd director of the United States Domestic Policy Council from 2021 to 2023,as the 27th U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013,and as the 23rd U.S. national security advisor from 2013 to 2017.
The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the international affairs and public policy school of Columbia University,a private Ivy League university located in Morningside Heights,Manhattan,New York City. SIPA offers Master of International Affairs (MIA) and Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees in a range of fields,as well as the Executive MPA and PhD program in Sustainable Development.
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).
James Braidy Steinberg is an American academic administrator and former diplomat,who served as the United States deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration. He has been the dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University since November 1,2021. Previously he was a professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Nancy Eileen McEldowney is an American academic and diplomat who served as the national security advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris from January 20,2021,to March 21,2022. She was previously a career Foreign Service officer,served as United States ambassador to Bulgaria (2008–2009),and was director of the Foreign Service Institute from February 2013 until June 2017.
Daniel Benjamin "Dan" Shapiro is an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Israel from 2011 to 2017. He was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 29,2011,and confirmed by the Senate on May 29. He was sworn in as ambassador by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 8,2011. Previously,he was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa on the United States National Security Council. As an Obama administration political appointee,Shapiro was ordered on January 5,2017,to resign upon the inauguration of President Donald Trump. On August 30,2021,President Joe Biden appointed Shapiro as a special liaison to Israel on Iran.
Thomas Edward Donilon is an American lawyer,business executive,and former government official who served as the 22nd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013. Donilon also worked in the Carter and Clinton administrations. He is now Chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute,the firm's global think tank.
Antony John Blinken is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. 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. Blinken was previously national security advisor to then–Vice President Joe Biden from 2009 to 2013.
Brett H. 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.
Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan is an American attorney who served as the U.S. National Security Advisor from 2021 to 2025 under president Joe Biden.
Jonathan Finer is an American journalist and civil servant who serves as deputy national security advisor under national security advisor Jake Sullivan in the Biden administration. He previously served as the chief of staff and director of policy planning for former Secretary of State John Kerry at the U.S. Department of State.
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.
Colin Hackett Kahl is an American political scientist who served as under secretary of defense for policy in the Biden administration from April 28,2021,to July 17,2023. Previously,he served as national security advisor to the vice president under then-Vice President Joe Biden (2014–2017). After the Obama administration,Kahl served as a Steven C. Házy Senior Fellow at Stanford University.
Puneet Talwar is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Morocco from November 2022 to 2025. 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.
The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7,2020,and ended on January 20,2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions,which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week of November and the inauguration on January 20,Biden's presidential transition was shortened somewhat because the General Services Administration under the outgoing first Trump administration did not recognize Biden as the "apparent winner" until November 23.
Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President role is to advise the Vice President on all matters of national security and provide input to the National Security Council and serves as the primary foreign policy and national security lead in the Office of the Vice President of the United States.
