EMBASSY EVENTS 2009

President Obama Nominates Phil Gordon as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs

18 March 2009

Phil Gordon

On March 11 President Barack Obama nominated Philip Gordon as Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Dr. Gordon's nomination in a business meeting on March 31. He will replace current Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried, whom Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has appointed to lead a dedicated team to carry out President Obama's commitment to close the detention facility at Guantanamo within one year. Dr. Gordon is Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C., where he has worked since 2000.

Before he joined Brookings, Dr. Gordon was Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton, where he was instrumental in developing and coordinating NATO policy in the run-up to the Alliance's 50th Anniversary summit in Washington, D.C. He has held teaching and research posts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC; INSEAD, in Fontainebleau, France and Singapore; and the German Society for Foreign Affairs in Bonn.

Dr. Gordon has a Ph.D. and M.A. in European Studies and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a B.A. in French and Philosophy from Ohio University. He is proficient in French, German, Italian and speaks some Spanish. He has published numerous books and articles on international relations and foreign policy and frequently contributes to major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, and Financial Times. He was a foreign policy advisor and leader of the Europe expert group for the Obama presidential campaign.