Kurt M. Campbell

Kurt M. Campbell is the former Deputy Secretary of State. He was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 6, 2024, and sworn in as the 22nd deputy secretary of state on Feb. 12, 2024. Prior to assuming this position, Campbell served as deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the National Security Council. He was previously founding chairman and CEO of The Asia Group LLC, a strategic advisory and capital management group. From 2009 to 2013, Campbell served as the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. Earlier, he was the CEO and co-founder of the Center for a New American Security; concurrently, he served as the director of the Aspen Strategy Group and chairman of the editorial board of The Washington Quarterly. Among the other positions he has held during his distinguished career, Campbell served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs, White House Fellow at the Treasury Department and director of the Democracy Office at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration. Campbell was an associate professor of public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and served in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

He is the author or editor of 10 books, including “The Pivot: The Future of American Statecraft in Asia,” “Difficult Transitions: Why Presidents Fail in Foreign Policy at the Outset of Power,” and “Hard Power: The New Politics of National Security.” He received his B.A. from the University of California San Diego and his doctorate in international relations from Brasenose College at Oxford University, where he was a Distinguished Marshall Scholar. Campbell is the recipient of numerous awards, including the secretary of state’s Distinguished Service Award.