Naz Durakoğlu is a Turkish-American foreign policy and national security advisor who is the

assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs The Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Legislative Affairs within the United States Department of State. List of Assistant Secretaries of State for Legislative Affairs External linksList of Assis ...

Early life and education

Durakoğlu is first generation

Turkish-American Turkish Americans ( tr, Türk Amerikalılar) or American Turks are Americans of ethnic Turkish origin. The term "Turkish Americans" can therefore refer to ethnic Turkish immigrants to the United States, as well as their American-born descend ...

. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and philosophy from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

and a Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.

Career

From 2007 to 2008, Durakoğlu worked on the national advance staff of the

Hillary Clinton 2008 presidential primary campaign Hillary Clinton won many primaries, but lost the Democratic Party nomination to Barack Obama during the 2008 United States presidential election. Campaign developments 2007 Early opposition from two sides In February 2007, ''The Los Angeles ...

. She then worked as deputy finance director for

Michael McMahon Michael E. McMahon (born September 12, 1957) is an American politician and attorney serving as the District Attorney for Richmond County, which is coextensive with Staten Island. A member of the Democratic Party, McMahon is a former U.S. Represen ...

's 2008 campaign for

New York's 13th congressional district New York's 13th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in New York City, represented by Adriano Espaillat. The district is the smallest congressional district by area in the U.S. The ...

. From 2009 to 2011, she served as McMahon's legislative assistant. Also in 2011, she served as a legislative assistant for Congressman

Anthony Weiner Anthony David Weiner (; born September 4, 1964) is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 until his resignation in 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he consistently carried the district with at l ...

. From 2011 to 2015, she was the legislative director for Congressman Bill Keating. From 2013 to 2015, she was the staff director for the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Energy, the Environment and Emerging Threats. From 2015 to 2017, she served as a senior advisor in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. She later worked for the Digital Forensic Research Lab, a program founded in 2016 as a part of the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

. From 2017 to 2021, she served as national security advisor for Senator Jeanne Shaheen. In January 2021, she was selected to serve as deputy

and acting secretary before being appointed permanently to the position on July 22, 2022.

Personal life

Durakoğlu speaks

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durakoğlu, Naz Living people Rutgers University alumni Naval War College alumni Biden administration personnel United States Department of State officials Obama administration personnel Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Turkish descent