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

July 18, 2017 10:15 am

2

Trump Must Withdraw From the Iran Nuclear Deal — Now

For the second time during the Trump administration, the State Department has reportedly decided to certify that Iran is complying with its 2015 nuclear deal...

July 12, 2017 10:48 am

0

Trouble Among America’s Gulf Allies

In recent weeks, governments on the Arabian Peninsula have been having a diplomatic brawl. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain (together with Egypt...

June 19, 2017 11:43 am

2

Fifty Years Later: Peace Through Strength

We recently marked the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967, when Israel won a swift and thoroughly decisive victory over its hostile Arab neighbors. Threatened...

May 22, 2017 12:28 pm

0

Trump’s Saudi Arabia Speech a Good Start, But Action Must Follow

Donald Trump made Saudi Arabia the first stop on his first presidential trip abroad for a reason. His speech Sunday in Riyadh was a principal...

April 26, 2017 12:28 pm

1

Don’t Blame Washington for North Korea’s Actions

In 1984, George Orwell crafted an iconic Party directive: “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” If rewriting...

March 23, 2017 8:05 am

0

What Trump Must Do on Foreign Policy

After a tumultuous start, President Trump now faces the hard work of resetting America's national security priorities. We confront a vast array of international threats and...

February 15, 2017 3:57 pm

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Netanyahu and Trump Must Confront Iran, Global Threats

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today with President Donald Trump. While the two leaders had a full agenda to cover -- including international terrorism, the...

January 10, 2017 7:24 am

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Obama’s Unsmooth Transition

America's presidential transitions are critical to smoothly transferring power, but are simultaneously fraught with danger. Decisions by the departing president almost invariably affect the new...

November 15, 2016 7:49 am

1

Foreign Policy Priorities for Trump in the Wake of Obama’s Abysmal Failures

President-elect Donald Trump has just over two months to get his administration's key personnel and top policy priorities in place before Inauguration Day, Jan. 20,...

October 14, 2016 6:46 am

1

What the UN’s New Leader Needs to Know

Surprisingly to many, the ninth United Nations secretary-general will be António Guterres, a former socialist prime minister of Portugal. One surprise is that the winning candidate...

October 2, 2016 6:26 am

1

Why ‘Brexit’ Will Strengthen NATO and the West

Three months after the Brexit vote, it’s time for the UK’s leaders to “get this country moving again,” as JFK once exhorted Americans. Or “make...

September 30, 2016 6:56 am

1

Donald Trump and NATO

France and Germany are once more considering steps to invest the European Union with real military capabilities. Although similar ideas have often been advanced before,...

September 13, 2016 5:31 am

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North Korea: Another Obama Failure

North Korea’s fifth nuclear test signals continuing progress and sophistication in its decades-long effort to possess deliverable nuclear weapons. Moreover, both US and South Korean...

September 12, 2016 4:01 am

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Barack Obama and the Lessons of 9/11

Al Qaeda's barbaric attacks on the United States 15 years ago caused a profound change in the way most Americans think about terrorism. Before September 11, 2001,...