Jake Sullivan (Jake Sullivan), born in Vermont, USA in 1976, Yale University Doctor of Law. Currently, he is a foreign policy adviser to U.S. President Biden , U.S. National Security Advisor , and U.S. President National Security Assistant .
Today let us know this youngest U.S. national security consultant , known as the "next Obama ".
01Shuxiang Family
111-28, Jack Sullivan was born in a middle-class family in Vermont, USA, and grew up with four siblings. His father worked in the commercial department of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and later worked in the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, and his mother taught in the public school.
It is said that Sullivan html knew the capitals of all countries in the world at the age of 210. This is undoubtedly the first step to becoming a diplomat. Later, he followed Hillary and visited 112 countries in the world, which also became a legend in the world. His colleagues joked that "his work ability is so annoying."
02 Elite Education
1998, after graduating from Yale University of Sullivan, he received the Rhodes Scholarship with outstanding results and entered Oxford University , and graduated from Oxford University in 2000 with master's degree in international relations. He then entered Yale Law School and obtained his doctorate in jurisprudence in 2003. During his study, Sullivan was particularly fascinated by the "Great Society" plan implemented by President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s, and perhaps he had planted political ideals in his heart since then.
03 Build connections
Sullivan not only has outstanding abilities, but also has a wide range of connections. After graduating from Dr. Sullivan, he became a well-known lawyer in Washington and Wall Street in more than two years of hard work. He became famous in the legal circle and attracted the attention of American politics. Some important figures Sullivan met in the past will become the key to gaining a foothold in Washington and entering the core circle of the Democratic Party. For example, Leslie Gelb, former chairman of the American Association for Diplomatic Relations, and Steph Talbot, a former deputy secretary of state who is also an alumnus of Yale and former chairman of the Brookings Institution.
Sullivan's path to politics began with two women, one was Senator Klobucher , and the other was Hillary. Klobutch, known as the Democratic Party of America, hired Sullivan as chief legal counsel. After Sullivan followed Klobucher, before the 2008 US election, Klobucher recommended Sullivan to Hillary. Because Klobucher and Hillary are best friends. Of course, Sullivan is reused in this relationship. After Sullivan became Hillary's adviser, when Hillary became Secretary of State, Sullivan became Hillary's deputy chief of staff , and followed Hillary to visit 112 countries.
In 2013, after Hillary stepped down as Secretary of State, kli took over. Blinken is a National Security Adviser Assistant to Kerry's deputy. With the recommendation of Hillary, Sullivan became an assistant for security affairs in the United States.
In January 2021, Klobucher was the host of Biden's inauguration and also became a politician that Biden valued.
04 First try
In 2008, he became the number one aide to Hillary's presidential campaign team, and Hillary commented on Sullivan as "cautious, serious and smart."
In 2008, although Hillary lost to Obama in the primary election, she still received the position of Secretary of State. Sullivan also followed in the State Department and became the youngest director of the Policy Planning Office in history of the US State Department.
It was during this period that Sullivan and his colleagues wrote an article for Hillary, discussing the new policy of turning to the Asia-Pacific, which was later known as the Asia-Pacific rebalancing.
2009, the late legendary diplomat Richard Holbrook (formerly the assistant secretary of state of the United States, the United States ambassador to United Nations and Germany, was responsible for the normalization of Sino-US relations, and was nominated for seven times to compete for the Nobel Peace Prize . He is famous for his patience, firm will, and good at coordination. He has the nickname of "bullocker" in the diplomatic circle) When performing a mission in Afghanistan , he found that he wanted to report to Sullivan, who was only 32 years old.
A colleague recalled that after making a call, Hallbrook hung up and said, "That guy may be the Secretary of State."
At the end of 2012, Hillary Clinton was about to leave office. She praised him for his good brain and reliable mind, as an "a mind and calm and keen analyst with deep analysis of the problems facing U.S. national security," and even predicted that he would run for president in the future. Some media commented that the Democrats regard Sullivan as the next Obama. More importantly, at this time Hillary recommended Sullivan to Obama.
05 Going to the next level
12 November 2012, Sullivan was invited by Obama to have lunch at Myanmar . At the dinner, Obama asked about Sullivan's history of the United States and the history of Myanmar. Sullivan talked freely.
There is no doubt that he passed this "test". Shortly after this chat, Obama called Sullivan from Air Force One and invited him to serve as the national security adviser to Vice President Biden, responsible for diplomatic work in Asia and Latin America, which began the chapter where Sullivan and Biden worked together.
At that time, he would go to Oval Office with Biden to attend Obama's intelligence briefing, and spend about half an hour with the Guoan team discussing major policy issues.
It is said that Sullivan is known for his critical thinking about policies in White House . He often questioned whether the assumptions behind the policy were correct, and was willing to use the "devil spokesperson" discussion (i.e. deliberately put forward different opinions from most opinions to trigger thinking and help organizations review past thinking patterns) and deduce the third and fourth-order effects of things (similar to playing chess and looking at three steps, which shows that they have a long-term vision and a sharp mind), and ultimately reconstruct the problem and raise new questions.
"Jack not only has intellectual firepower, but also interpersonal skills. Hillary said in detailing Sullivan's strengths, "In the broadest sense, he is a true diplomat, who knows how to listen, how to unite people, and how to develop strategies for achieving this goal. "
06 tie-knot
2015, when Sullivan was 39 years old, and Maggie Goodlander tied the knot, Hillary and Blinken attended. Goodlander served as secretary and foreign policy adviser to Senator Lieberman, and later served as senior policy adviser to Senator McCain .
In 2016, Hillary lost to Trump in the presidential election. Sullivan felt deeply guilty and began to reflect on the domestic and foreign motivations behind Trump's rise, thus developing a new foreign policy doctrine aimed at "serving the middle class", which is exactly "rebuilding a better future with Biden (Build Back) Better's "political philosophy is the same. The key points are: First, it emphasizes the integration of internal affairs and diplomacy. Second, it regards the revitalization of the middle class as the core destination of foreign policy. Third, it repairs strategic credibility and regains values diplomacy. Fourth, it seeks to launch a "disaster-free competition" against China.
After that, Sullivan chose to hide from politics again and return to the backstage through " revolving door ". He joined Macro Advisory Partners, a risk consulting company, in January 2017. During his tenure, Sullivan advised Uber's negotiations with the trade union. Later, he joined the Casey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire as a senior researcher.
07 Key cabinet
On January 20, 2021, the Biden administration officially came to power. Jack Sullivan, 44, who served as his national security adviser when Biden was vice president, also became the youngest presidential assistant in the United States for decades. The appointment immediately caused a sensation, after all, the National Security Advisor was the president's chief think tank on security matters, and Kissinger, a well-known American strategist, once held this position. Kissinger admires Sullivan very much and believes that Sullivan is familiar with history and will not fail in diplomatic strategies.
At that time, Biden's team wrote in his introduction to Sullivan's resume: "During the government's work, Sullivan was the chief negotiator for the initial negotiations, paving the way for the Iran nuclear agreement and playing a key role in the US-brokered negotiations, leading to the 2012 Gaza ceasefire. He also played a key role in the State Department and the White House's 'Asia-Pacific Rebalancing' strategy."
Sullivan is not only the youngest among all the president's national security assistants, but also the youngest among the Biden administration's diplomatic and national security teams. Hillary said Sullivan "has the potential to be president", while Biden called Sullivan "a wise man in a generation." No matter how much praise these comments have, it at least reflects that Sullivan is by no means a technocrat with a narrow vision, but a politician with strategic thinking and systematic planning.
08 The road ahead is long and long
Although Sullivan has outstanding personal abilities, it is not easy to become a strategist and presidential national security assistant like Kissinger and Scocroft who are remembered by history. In the past four years, Trump has advocated "small circle" decision-making and paid limited attention to the White House National Security Council, which has weakened its professional effectiveness and decision-making role. As a department leader of the National Security Council, Sullivan must not only implement Biden's vision of "reviving" the National Security Council and strengthen its policy role, but also carefully handle the relationship between the National Security Council and other cabinet institutions to prevent them from being disgusted with the National Security Council's "hands stretched too long."
Sullivan's critics didn't say much about him. They pointed out that Sullivan is the core of two long-term disasters in the United States - Hillary's loss to Trump in the 2016 election and Afghanistan's withdrawal crisis.
As the chaotic scene of the last moment of the US withdrawal in Afghanistan shocked the world, Sullivan was pushed to the center of the spotlight. Critics believe that as a national security adviser, Sullivan needs to be responsible for ensuring that all reasonable views are made public in the White House Situation Research Room and that all situations are reviewed. But the White House has been trying hard to defend Sullivan, saying no one in the situation research room predicted that Kabul would collapse at such a speed, and emphasized the role of the national security adviser in coordinating the evacuation of 124,000 civilians, saying it was the largest civilian air operation in U.S. history.
Foreign media reported that in the eight months since Sullivan took office, there have been constant voices asking him to resign, and it is not just the Republican . Brett Bruin, the head of global affairs of the Obama administration, even published an commentary on " USA Today " saying that he called for the restructuring of Biden's national security team starting from Sullivan.
However, despite the constant voices of doubt and criticism from the outside world, Sullivan has become the core figure of the Biden administration.
htmlOn the afternoon of August 30, when news of the last US military plane leaving Afghan airspace came to the Oval Office of the White House, Biden invited Secretary of State Blinken and Sullivan, who was a national security adviser, to accompany him to a private restaurant to celebrate this important moment of ending the longest war in the United States.
A senior US government official said that at such an important moment, Biden hopes that Sullivan is present, which means that he has truly become the "person" of Biden's team. Unlike Blinken, who has been with Biden since 2002, Sullivan only worked under Biden for 18 months before the 2020 presidential election. Until then, he had been Hillary's right-hand assistant.
"In the past two years, I have seen him (Biden) seeking advice from Jack (Sullivan) for domestic and foreign policy. He respects Jack's judgment very much and relies on him wholeheartedly." The senior official said. The "middle-class diplomacy" proposed by Biden after taking office adopted the concept designed by Sullivan when he was doing research on the Carnegie International Peace Foundation.
Although the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs is an important position in the Cabinet, he is directly appointed by the President and does not require approval from the Senate. Even so, Sullivan's future work will inevitably be "closely focused" and involvement by some right-wing people. How to gradually clear out the Trump administration's diplomatic negative assets under the political pressure of right-wing forces and reshape the United States' diplomatic security strategy may not be achieved based on his personal ability and will.
09 Policy toward China
Sullivan is the same as Blinken in his strategy toward China. He not only opposes comprehensive decoupling, but also believes that the "the era of contact has ended", and competition and strategic containment with China should be strengthened. This is the same as Biden's policy.
Sullivan believes that Sino-US relations should not move towards a "new Cold War". Both sides must be committed to preventing misjudgments and carrying out "bottom line management" aimed at preventing war-ends, and at the same time cooperate on issues such as climate change. But on the other hand, Sullivan believes that China is "displaying its superiority over the United States", saying that China's rapid development and growth of international influence "touched the interests of the United States". The United States needs to first improve its domestic political and economic conditions, vigorously invest in scientific and technological research and development, talent education and infrastructure construction, give full play to its "institutional advantages", and then work with its allies to resist China's "predatory practices". Sullivan expressed his tough position on the investigation of the origin of the new coronavirus and issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and his policy attitude of "strong competition" against China has begun to emerge.
