Jon Wolfsthal is an American security analyst currently serving as director of global risk at the

Federation of American Scientists The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1946 by scientists who wo ...

Education

Wolfsthal graduated from the

New Lincoln School The New Lincoln School was a private experimental coeducational school in New York City enrolling students from kindergarten through grade 12. History New Lincoln's predecessor was founded as Lincoln School in 1917 by the Rockefeller-funded Gener ...

in Manhattan and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

in 1988. He then attended graduate school at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

Career

Wolfsthal began his career in government service at the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United Stat ...

during the 1990s in a variety of positions, including in

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, where he served in roles including as an on-site monitor under the 1994 "

Agreed Framework The Agreed Framework between the United States of America and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (북미제네바기본합의서) was signed on 21 October 1994, between North Korea (DPRK) and the United States. The objective of the agreeme ...

". From March 2009 to March 2012, Wolfsthal served as a special advisor for Nonproliferation and Nuclear Security in the

Office of the Vice President of the United States The Office of the Vice President includes personnel who directly support or advise the vice president of the United States. The office is headed by the chief of staff to the vice president of the United States, currently Lorraine Voles. The off ...

under Vice President Joe Biden and as Director for Nonproliferation at the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

. From 2014 to 2017, Wolfsthal served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and Senior Director for Arms Control and Nonproliferation on the

United States National Security Council 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 Execu ...

. In that post, he was the most senior

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

official setting and implementing U.S. Government policy on arms control, nonproliferation, and nuclear policy. During his tenure at the

White House Office The White House Office is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The White House Office is headed by the White House chief of staff, who is also the head of the Executive Office of the President. The s ...

, he developed U.S. nuclear and nonproliferation policy. He was involved in crafting President Obama's Prague speech delivered in April 2009, served on the delegation to the

2010 Nuclear Security Summit The 2010 Nuclear Security Summit was a Summit (meeting), summit held in Washington, D.C., on April 12 and 13, 2010. The Summit focused on how to better safeguard weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to prevent nuclear terrorism. Overview The New S ...

, helped negotiate and gain Senate approval of the

New START New START (Russian abbrev.: СНВ-III, ''SNV-III'' from ''сокращение стратегических наступательных вооружений'' "reduction of strategic offensive arms") is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between ...

arms control agreement with Russia, helped draft the 2010

Nuclear Posture Review The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is a process “to determine what the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy should be.” History 1994 NPR The first NPR was ordered by United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense (DoD) ...

and coordinated U.S. policy for the 2015 NPT Review Conference. The co-author of ''Deadly Arsenals: Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction'', he was described by the office of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden as "a globally recognized expert on nuclear security and nonproliferation",Vice President Biden Announces Key Staff Appointments
, www.whitehouse.gov, 2013-03-29. Accessed 2013-10-07. He served previously as deputy director of the James C. Martin

Center for Nonproliferation Studies The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly known as the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is an American graduate school of Middlebury College, a private college in Middlebury, Vermont. Established ...

at the Middlebury Institute of International Security at Monterey.Jon Wolfsthal Appointed New CNS Deputy Director
, Monterey Institute for International Studies. Undated, some time before 2012-04-01. Accessed 2013-10-07. Wolfsthal has taught at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced and International Studies,

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, and the

Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly known as the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is an American graduate school of Middlebury College, a private college in Middlebury, Vermont. Established ...

. Wolfsthal is a senior advisor at

Global Zero Global Zero is a term in the literature of arms control that refers to the worldwide elimination of a weapons system, especially nuclear weapons or a particular class of nuclear weapons. In negotiations over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces T ...

. and non-resident fellow at the

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located within the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in the United States. From 2017 until his death in Oc ...

. Wolfsthal has written op-ed columns for ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', and ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''. As of March 2017, Wolfsthal serves as a member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board.

Publications

Project Atom 2023: A Competitive Strategies Approach for U.S. Nuclear Posture through 2035, ''

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...

'', September 30, 2023 (co-authored with Heather Williams, Kelsey Hartigan, Lachlan MacKenzie, Robert Soofer, Tom Karako, Franklin Miller, Leonor Tomero, and Oriana Skylar Mastro)

Personal life

Wolfsthal is married to Shanthi Kalathil.

References

External links

Official page at Carnegie Endowment
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfsthal, Jon Georgetown University faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) United States National Security Council staffers Middlebury College faculty