Carsey School’s Jake Sullivan tapped by Biden

Monday, November 23, 2020
Jake Sullivan teaching a class at the Carsey School

President-elect Joe Biden has named Jake Sullivan, a faculty member with the Carsey School of Public Policy, as the next U.S. national security advisor. A current senior policy advisor for the incoming president, Sullivan is a senior fellow with the Carsey School and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Brady-Johnson Distinguished Practitioner in Grand Strategy at Yale University.

Sullivan previously served in former President Barack Obama's administration as deputy assistant to the president and national security adviser to then-Vice President Biden. The Portsmouth, New Hampshire, resident also held the role of director of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State and was deputy chief of staff to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“Teaching in the Carsey School has been a pleasure—the students are so sharp and engaged. I’ll miss that as I move into government service, but I plan to keep in touch and hope that down the road I’ll be able to again be part of the university,” the Minnesota native said. 

Sullivan was a senior policy adviser and chief counsel to Sen. Amy Klobuchar. A graduate of Yale Law School, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. According to the Biden-Harris Transition website, Sullivan was a lead negotiator in the initial talks that paved the way for the Iran nuclear deal and played a key role in the U.S.-brokered negotiations that led to a ceasefire in Gaza in 2012.

He serves on the advisory board of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership & Public Service at the UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law.  

Dana Remus who also serves on the advisory board has been name the White House counsel for the Biden administration. Remus presently serves as general counsel of the Biden-Harris campaign. Previously she served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel for ethics during the Obama Administration and as general counsel to the Obama Foundation. She has been a faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of Law, the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. She is an expert on legal and judicial ethics. Remus clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and Judge Anthony J. Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. A New Hampshire native, she graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School.

Photographer: 
David Vogt | Communications and Public Affairs