User:Bgluckman/Tony Blinken



Antony John 'Tony' Blinken (born April 16, 1962) served as Assistant to the President of the United States and Deputy National Security Adviser for President Barack Obama, from January 2013 through December 2014. On December 16, 2014 the U.S. Senate confirmed Blinken as Deputy Secretary of State by a vote of 55 to 38.

From 2009 to 2013 Blinken served as Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President. From 2002 to 2008 he served as the Democratic Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. From 2001 to 2002 Blinken was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. During the Clinton Administration, Blinken served in the State Department and in senior positions on the National Security Council Staff.

On November 7, 2014, President Obama announced that he would nominate Blinken to become the next Deputy Secretary of State, after the retirement of William Joseph Burns.

Early life
Blinken was born in New York City, to Judith and Donald Blinken. He attended Dalton School in New York City until 1971, when he moved to Paris, France, with his mother and her new husband, Holocaust survivor and lawyer, Samuel Pisar. Pisar, who had survived both the Auschwitz and Dachau, strongly influenced his views.

He attended Harvard University, where he edited the daily student newspaper and co-edited the weekly art magazine. After earning his Bachelors degree, Blinken reported for The New Republic. He then earned his J.D. at Columbia Law School. After graduation, he practiced law in New York and Paris. Blinken became active in Democratic politics, helping his father fundraise for Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign.

Career
Blinken began his government service at the State Department where, from 1993 to 1994, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs.

Blinken was a member of President Clinton’s National Security Council staff at the White House from 1994 to 2001. From 1999 to 2001, he was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs – President Clinton’s principal advisor for relations with the countries of Europe, the European Union and NATO. From 1994 through 1998, Blinken was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Speechwriting and then Strategic Planning, overseeing foreign policy planning, communications and speechwriting and serving as President Clinton's chief foreign policy speechwriter.

After leaving the Clinton Administration, he held the position of Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies between 2001 and 2002. From 2002 to 2008 he served Democratic Staff Director for U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 2008, Blinken worked for the presidential campaign of Senator Joseph Biden, and was a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition team.

From 2009 to 2013 he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President. In this position he also helped craft U.S. policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Iranian nuclear program.

He is the author of ‘’Ally Versus Ally: America, Europe and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis’’ (Praeger, 1987).

Personal life
Blinken, who is Jewish, married Evan Ryan in a bi-denominational ceremony officiated by a rabbi and priest in Washington, D.C.