Derek Chollet
| Derek Chollet | |
|---|---|
| Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs | |
|
In office June, 2012 – January, 2015 |
|
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Alexander Vershbow |
| Succeeded by | Elissa Slotkin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Derek Chollet |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater | Cornell University (1993) |
| Profession | Diplomat |
Derek Chollet is Executive Vice President for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and author of the book, The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America's Role in the World (Public Affairs, 2016). He is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy, where he coedits "Shadow Government," and is a regular contributor to Defense One, is also an advisor to Beacon Global Strategies and an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. From 2012-2015, Mr. Chollet was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, where he managed U.S. defense policy toward Europe (including NATO), the Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. In that role, he was a senior advisor to two secretaries of defense, Leon Panetta (July 2011 until February 2013) and Chuck Hagel (until February 2015).
Chollet started in Washington in 1993, when he was the research assistant to former Secretary of State James A. Baker III helping him with his memoir, The Politics of Diplomacy. In 1996, he was asked by the State Department to write a comprehensive history of the Dayton Peace Accords, which was declassified in 2003 In 1999 he joined the Clinton Administration, where he served as chief speechwriter for UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and as special adviser to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott. From 2002 to 2004, Chollet was foreign policy adviser to U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC), both on his legislative staff and during the 2004 Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign. From 2009 to 2011, he was the Principal Deputy Director of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Policy Planning staff. From November 2008 to January 2009, he was a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. From 2011-12, Chollet served at The White House as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council Staff.
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