The United States 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. 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.
James Andrew Kelly is an American foreign policy advisor who served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2001 to 2005.
The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the primary investigative law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of the Navy. Its primary function is to investigate major criminal activities involving the Navy and Marine Corps,though its broad mandate includes national security,counterintelligence,counterterrorism,cyberwarfare,and the protection of U.S. naval assets worldwide. NCIS is the successor organization to the former Naval Investigative Service (NIS),which was established by the Office of Naval Intelligence after the Second World War.
Hon. Carl W. Ford,Jr. is an American political scientist,consultant,defense administrator,and Asian specialist originally from Hot Springs,Arkansas. As Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research,he headed the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) in the State Department from 2001 until 2003. He reported directly to then Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Richard A. Boucher is an American diplomat who was deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2009 until 2013. He took up post on November 5,2009. Prior to joining OECD,he was the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs,a position he assumed on February 21,2006. The Bureau of South Asian Affairs was expanded to include the nations of Central Asia shortly before his confirmation.
William Joseph Burns is an American diplomat and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Biden administration since March 19,2021. He previously served as U.S. deputy secretary of state from 2011 to 2014;in 2009 he served as acting secretary of state for a day,prior to the confirmation of Hillary Clinton. Burns retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2014 after a 32-year career. From 2014 to 2021,he served as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Colleen Graffy is a former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy for Europe and Eurasia,and associate professor of law and Director of Global Programs at Pepperdine University School of Law and Academic Director of their London campus. She is former Chairman of SEAL,the Society of English and American Lawyers.
Tracey Ann Jacobson is an American diplomat and a former United States ambassador to Turkmenistan,Tajikistan,Kosovo and Ethiopia. She served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from January 2017 through October 2017. She retired then returned to active duty in 2021 as the State Department's Director of the Afghanistan Task Force,and then as Chargéd’Affaires,ad interim,at the Embassy in Addis Ababa,Ethiopia. In January 2024,she was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as the United States ambassador to Iraq.
Hady Amr is an American government official serving as special representative for Palestinian affairs since 22 November 2022. He was previously Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the U.S. Department of State. The new position is a significant upgrade in relations with Palestine. He was appointed to the role under President Joe Biden on January 20,2021. He was born in Lebanon,and has close ties to the region,being praised by both Israeli and Palestinian leaders alike.
Kurt Michael Campbell is an American diplomat and businessman serving as the United States deputy secretary of state since 2024. He previously served as 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.
Michael Bruce Donley is a United States government official who is the director of administration and management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense since May 2021,having served in the same position from 2005 to 2008. In the Bush and Obama administrations,Donley served as the 22nd secretary of the Air Force,amongst other positions. Donley has 30 years of experience in the national security community,including service on the staff of the United States Senate,White House and The Pentagon.
Raymond Francis DuBois Jr. is a private consultant in national security and defense policy and also a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies,a nonpartisan think-tank in Washington,D.C. At CSIS he focuses on international security policy,civil-military relations,defense management reform,and Joint Professional Military Education. His expertise is in Defense Department organization,management and reform;land forces tactical and non-tactical systems;international and domestic installations and environmental issues;base realignment and closure;National Guard and Reserves issues;stability operations and reconstruction;continuity of business operations and crisis management. He was a member of the Defense Health Board and its NCR BRAC Health Systems Advisory Committee in 2006 to 2009. DuBois was a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on Stabilizing Fragile States. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of the United States Institute of Peace,a member of the Princeton University ROTC Board of Directors. He has spoken at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University,at the European Forum Alpbach 2008 in Austria,at the Marine Corps University,Quantico,Virginia,and before audiences of the National Defense Industry Association and the Association of the United States Army.
Kenneth Leonard Wainstein is an American lawyer. He served as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security,and later as the Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush. In 2022 under the Biden administration,he was appointed Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis.
Kori N. Schake is an American international relations scholar currently serving as the Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. She has held several high 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 the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the Alexander Hamilton Society.
David F. Gordon is Head of Research at Eurasia Group,the political risk consultancy. He was previously the U.S. State Department's Director of Policy Planning,where he held a rank equivalent to a United States Assistant Secretary of State.
Robert G. (Rob) Berschinski is currently the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy and Human Rights at the White House National Security Council (NSC) in the Biden administration. He previously served as the Senior Vice President for Policy at Human Rights First where he oversees the organization's work advancing a U.S. foreign policy rooted in a strong commitment to human rights,universal values,and American ideals. He is also a Visiting Scholar at NYU's Program in International Relations. Previously Berschinski served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy,Human Rights,and Labor (DRL) at the U.S. Department of State,and was responsible for DRL's work in Europe,Russia,and South and Central Asia. He is a former U.S. Air Force officer and director for Security and Human Rights Policy at the NSC.
Nicholas J. Rasmussen is the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC),a United States government organization. He was sworn in on December 18,2014 and was replaced by Russell Travers on December 24,2017.
Christine Elizabeth Wormuth is an American defense official and career civil servant who serves as the United States Secretary of the Army since 2021. She is the first female United States Secretary of the Army.
Brett Michael Holmgren is an American intelligence official serving as assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research in the Biden administration.
