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Jonathan Finer

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Jon Finer
33rd Principal Deputy National Security Advisor
Assumed office
January 20, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byMatthew Pottinger
28th Director of Policy Planning
In office
March 7, 2016 – January 20, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byDavid McKean
Succeeded byBrian H. Hook
5th Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State
In office
March 8, 2015 – January 20, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
SecretaryJohn Kerry
Preceded byDavid Wade
Succeeded byMargaret Peterlin
Personal details
Born1976 (age 47–48)
Norwich, Vermont, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Balliol College, Oxford
(MPhil)
Yale University (JD)

Jonathan Finer (born 1976) is an American journalist and civil servant who serves as deputy national security advisor under national security advisor Jake Sullivan in the Biden administration.[1] 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.[2][3]

Early life and education

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Finer was born in Norwich, Vermont, the eldest of four children. His parents were Susan (née Burack) and Chad Finer.[4][5][6] His mother was the principal of the Frances C. Richmond School and his father a doctor.[4] He is Jewish.[7]

Finer graduated from Hanover High School in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1994.[8] He attended Harvard University where he developed an interest in international relations after spending time working for the Labour Party in the United Kingdom.[2] While at Harvard, he covered sports for The Harvard Crimson.[9] He earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, where he co-founded the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, and an M.Phil. in international relations from Balliol College, Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.[4][10] Finer also spent a year in Hong Kong as a Henry Luce Foundation Scholar, working as a reporter and editor at the Far Eastern Economic Review.[11]

Career

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Finer was a foreign and national correspondent at the Washington Post, where he reported from more than twenty countries and spent eighteen months covering the war in Iraq, embedding with the U.S. Marines during the 2003 invasion and based in Baghdad in 2005–2006. He also covered conflicts in Gaza (2009), Russia/Georgia (2008) and Israel/Lebanon (2006); the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign; and the 2004 Major League Baseball playoffs.[2]

Finer joined the Obama administration in 2009 as a White House Fellow, assigned to the Office of the White House Chief of Staff and the National Security Council staff.[12] At the White House, he also served as special advisor for the Middle East and North Africa and foreign policy speechwriter for Vice President Joseph R. Biden and later as senior advisor to deputy national security advisor Antony Blinken.[2][13]

From March 7, 2016 to January 20, 2017, Finer served as Director of Policy Planning.[14] Prior to his appointment as chief of staff and Director of Policy Planning at the State Department, Finer previously served as deputy chief of staff for policy.[2][3]

After concluding his work with the State Department, Finer joined the New York private equity firm Warburg Pincus[15][16] and served as a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.[17] He is a former member of the board of directors for the Truman National Security Project.[11]

Finer is deputy national security advisor under national security advisor Jake Sullivan, in the Biden administration.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Bertrand, Natasha; Pager, Tyler; Seligman, Lara (January 5, 2021). "Biden to tap more Obama vets to fill key national security roles". Politico. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Jonathan Finer". U.S. Department of State. March 8, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  3. ^ a b Hudson, John (December 18, 2015). "Inside Kerry's Leadership Changes for 2016". Foreign Policy. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c Lilienthal, Mark (March 14, 2016). "Profile: Norwich Native Jon Finer Is 'Never Off the Clock' at the State Department". Valley News. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021.
  5. ^ "Sylvia Burack". The Boston Globe. February 15, 2003.
  6. ^ "Beatrice (Finer) (Spigel) Cutter". The Boston Globe. January 2, 2011.
  7. ^ Kampeas, Ron (October 11, 2023). "Jewish White House staffers get emotional during briefing on response to Israel's war". The Jewish Telegraphic Agency. ....Jon Finer, the deputy national security advisor, on her left and Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, President Joe Biden's homeland security advisor, on her right. All three are Jewish.
  8. ^ "Norwich native Jon Finer takes a key job in Biden administration". VTDigger. January 21, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2023.
  9. ^ "Jonathan Finer". thecrimson.com. The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
  10. ^ "Oxford graduates in the new Biden Administration". University of Oxford. February 23, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  11. ^ a b "President Obama Appoints 2009-2010 Class of White House Fellows, 6-25-09" (Press release). The White House. June 25, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  12. ^ Kirk, Michael (June 15, 2017). "The Frontline Interview: Jon Finer". FRONTLINE. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  13. ^ Finer, Jon (June 2017). "Jon Finer". Foreign Policy. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  14. ^ "Jon Finer (1976–)". history.state.gov. Office of the Historian. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  15. ^ "Jonathan Finer". Warburg Pincus. 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  16. ^ "Jon Finer". Foreign Policy for America. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  17. ^ Heil, Emily (May 1, 2019). "Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen are in a political rom-com. This guy helped them get Washington right — kind of". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Director of Policy Planning
2016–2017 		Succeeded by
Government offices
Preceded by United States Deputy National Security Advisor
2021–present 		Incumbent
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