John Bolton

John Bolton
John R. Bolton currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. His area of research is U.S. foreign and national security policy. Prior to arriving at AEI, Amb. Bolton served as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 1, 2005 to December 9, 2006. From June 2001 to May 2005, Ambassador Bolton served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, also in the Bush Administration. Prior to this, Ambassador Bolton was Senior Vice President of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He supervised the AEI research program, financial oversight, dissemination of the AEI research and publications, public affairs and general management. Ambassador Bolton has spent many years of his career in public service. Previous positions he has held are Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs at the Department of State, 1989-1993; Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, 1985-1989; Assistant Administrator for Program and Policy Coordination, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1982-1983; General Counsel, U.S. Agency for International Development, 1981-1982. Ambassador Bolton is also an attorney. He was an associate at the Washington office of Covington & Burling, and then a member of the firm from 1983-1985, after public service at the U.S. Agency for International Development. He currently is "of counsel" to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Bolton graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude from Yale College (1970), and received his J.D. from Yale Law School (1974), where he was editor of the Yale Law Journal. Ambassador Bolton is married to Gretchen Smith Bolton. They have one daughter, Jennifer Sarah, an investment banker in New York.

ARTICLES BY: John Bolton

February 22, 2011 12:59 pm

How Freedom’s Foes Exploit Arab Unrest

As Iran's rulers busily suppress opposition to their dictatorship, they're poised to seize greater regional influence because of pervasive Middle Eastern unrest. Notwithstanding the undeniable benefits...

February 4, 2011 10:13 am

Beirut Calling

Lebanon, not Egypt, may determine the fate of democracy in the Middle East. Despite the media's recent focus on Egypt, events in Lebanon may well tell...

January 4, 2011 8:28 pm

Little to Cheer in First Two Years of Obama’s Middle East Policy

President Obama has had two bad years in the Middle East. Unfortunately, that means that America's friends and allies have also had two bad years,...

December 23, 2010 1:22 am

Obama and the Coming Palestinian State

Direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, for 21 months the centerpiece of Obama administration Middle East policy, are moving inevitably toward collapse. The talks may limp past our Nov. 2...

December 22, 2010 1:18 am

Search on for New UK Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks will stand down as religious head of the British Jewish community in September 2013, it has been confirmed. Lord Sacks will...

March 22, 2010 8:24 pm

Obama’s Global Failure

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government announced a West Bank housing project during Vice President Joseph Biden's recent visit—perhaps accidentally, perhaps not—the...

March 17, 2010 8:00 pm

Israel and The Crisis with Obama

Benjamin Netanyahu's first term as Israeli prime minister collapsed in 1999 in part because he had an unhappy relationship with President Bill Clinton....