Samantha Erin Vinograd (born February 17, 1983) is an American government official and foreign policy commentator who has served as the assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention in the
Department of Homeland Security since 2022.
Early life and education
Vinograd was born and raised in
Connecticut in a
Jewish family, including her father who is a
Holocaust survivor from France.
Vinograd graduated from the
Hopkins School in
New Haven, Connecticut, in 2001.
After high school, Vinograd attended the
University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian and Middle Eastern studies. She later received a Master of Arts in security studies from
Georgetown University.
Career
After her studies, Vinograd joined the
U.S. Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...
, working as deputy attaché to Iraq and as an International Economist during the
George W. Bush administration.
In August 2009, during the
Obama administration
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
, she began her tenure 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 ...
, where she served as director for Iraq, director for international economics, and as senior advisor to
National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils.
National sec ...
Thomas E. Donilon
Thomas Edward Donilon (born May 14, 1955) is an American lawyer, business executive, and former government official who served as the 22nd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013. .
In 2013, she began to work for
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
focusing on public-private sector partnerships. She later worked at
Stripe
Stripe, striped, or stripes may refer to:
Decorations
* Stripe (pattern), a line or band that differs in colour or tone from an adjacent surface
* Racing stripe, a vehicle decoration
* Service stripe, a decoration of the U.S. military
Entertainme ...
, leading global public policy before joining CNN as a national security analyst.
For several years, Vinograd was also a Senior Advisor at the
Biden Institute at the
University of Delaware.
She has worked as an advisor to the US Fund for
UNICEF, was named a David E. Rockefeller Fellow at the
Trilateral Commission, a Millennium Fellow at 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 ...
, and serves on the board of the Women's Foreign Policy Group. She co-founded Global Opportunity Advisors, a geopolitical risk and policy advisory firm, with
Morgan Ortagus
Morgan Deann Ortagus (born July 10, 1982) is an American television commentator, financial analyst, and political advisor who served as spokesperson for the United States Department of State from 2019 to 2021. She previously held government posit ...
.
[ ]
Vinograd began serving in the
Biden administration as senior counselor for national security and acting assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention at the Department of Homeland Security in February 2021.
She was promoted to assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention in August 2022.
References
External links
*
*
"Presidential Weekly BriefingWeekly column by Samantha Vinograd for CNN.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinograd, Samantha
1983 births
Living people
CNN people
Georgetown University alumni
Hopkins School alumni
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Jewish American journalists
United States government people of the Iraq War
American people of French-Jewish descent
George W. Bush administration personnel
Obama administration personnel
Biden administration personnel