| Julianne Smith | |
| Office: | 25th United States Ambassador to NATO |
| President: | Joe Biden |
| Term Start: | December 6, 2021 |
| Term End: | October 23, 2024[1] |
| Predecessor: | Kay Bailey Hutchison |
| Children: | 2 |
| Education: | Xavier University (BA) American University (MA) |
| Birth Date: | 1970 |
Julianne Smith is an American foreign policy advisor and diplomat who served as the United States Permanent Representative to NATO in the Biden administration from 2021 until 2024[2] . She previously served as deputy national security advisor to then-Vice President Biden in the Obama administration.
Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications and French from Xavier University and a Master of Arts in international relations from American University. She also studied French at the University of Paris, Sorbonne for a year and German at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich for one year.[3]
From 2000 to 2003, Smith worked as a program officer at the German Marshall Fund. She then joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a senior fellow,[4] where among other accomplishments in November 2006 she edited Transforming NATO (...again) - A Primer for the NATO Summit in Riga 2006,[5] and in 2008 she published The NATO-Russia Relationship: Defining Moment or Déjà Vu?.[6]
From 2009 to 2012, she served as the director of European and NATO policy at the United States Department of Defense, where she co-wrote the 2010 NATO Strategic Concept document,[7] under Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
From April 2012 to June 2013, she served as deputy national security advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden.[8]
From 2014 to 2018, she worked at the Center for a New American Security. She was also a fellow at the Robert Bosch Stiftung for one year. A senior advisor post at WestExec Advisors followed the consultancy's formation in 2017.
Smith co-founded the Leadership Council for Women in National Security,[9] [10] which officially launched on 25 June 2019.[11]
She worked as an advisor to a German consultancy called Berlin Global Advisors and worked at the American Academy in Berlin,[12] [13] while she penned such essays in foreign policy magazines as "NATO in the Age of Trump".[14]
A 2021 investigation in The American Prospect found that Smith, "who listed Boeing and SoftBank as clients, earned $34,000 as a WestExec consultant while holding down a full-time role at the think tank German Marshall Fund."[15]
In January 2021, Smith became a senior advisor to the United States secretary of state.[16]
On June 15, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Smith to serve as the United States permanent representative to NATO. On September 15, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On October 19, 2021, her nomination was reported favorably out of committee.[17] Her nomination was confirmed by United States Senate on November 18, 2021 by voice vote.[18]
Smith has written op-ed columns for The New York Times, Lawfare, Washington Monthly, Foreign Affairs, and The National Interest.[19] She has also appeared on NPR programs, including 1A, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition.[20] [21] [22]
Smith speaks German and French. She and her husband have two sons.[23]