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

March 18, 2015 7:53 am

1

A UN Vote is Irrelevant to the Iran Deal

Press reports that President Obama will enlist the U.N. Security Council to bless his imminent nuclear agreement with Iran have unleashed considerable controversy. Many worry...

March 12, 2015 12:13 am

32

Barack Obama and the Fatal Myth of Appeasement

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's powerful speech to Congress about Iran's nuclear weapons program now is behind us. America obviously benefited by hearing directly from...

February 19, 2015 8:42 am

2

It’s Too Late for Obama to Correct the Failures of His Presidency

With the supposed cease-fire in eastern Ukraine a mirage, the White House can soon be expected to return to its public pondering of whether to...

February 12, 2015 11:37 am

1

Obama’s Foreign Policy Will Damage America for Decades

Any administration's national security strategy written for public consumption inevitably involves platitudes, vacuous rhetoric and self-congratulation. But the strategy announced last week for President Obama's...

February 10, 2015 10:15 am

4

Why the Obama Administration Fears Netanyahu

When Speaker of the House John Boehner invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on Iran's nuclear weapons program, one might have thought...

January 15, 2015 2:27 am

11

Egypt’s Leader Battles Islamic Extremists

When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat traveled to Jerusalem in 1977, he shattered decades of isolation and war with Israel to search for peace. No single...

January 7, 2015 12:39 am

8

How the Palestinian Authority Could Stop Obama’s Penchant for Internationalism

The Palestinian Authority is aggressively seeking to have itself declared a "state" by joining treaties and international organizations, thereby pressuring Israel and the United States...

January 5, 2015 8:36 am

0

The UN Vote on ‘Palestine’ Was Just a Prelude for Things to Come

Long-standing Palestinian efforts to use the United Nations to achieve internationally recognized statehood status nearly succeeded early Wednesday. Just after midnight, the Security Council narrowly rejected a...

December 30, 2014 8:42 am

1

How the U.S. Should Respond to North Korea’s Hacking of Sony

"‹North Korea's cyberattack on Sony Pictures for the effrontery of making a movie criticizing Kim Jung Un could actually have a silver lining. That depends...

December 17, 2014 10:57 am

0

Obama’s Failures Tell Us What to Avoid

What role should foreign policy play in the 2016 presidential election campaign? With good reason, national-security issues will loom larger than at any point since the...

December 10, 2014 3:57 pm

0

Opinion: Why the EU’s Actions Impact America

Important American interests are at stake in what may seem, from a distance, arcane disputes within and among members of the European Union. Nonetheless, European...

December 2, 2014 2:29 am

2

Iran’s Pursuit of the Islamic Bomb Invites Copycats

While the future of Iran's nuclear program has rightly been the focus of the intense Vienna negotiations, there are other significant implications extending well beyond...

November 17, 2014 5:03 pm

0

A Foreign Affairs To-Do List for the GOP

The "red wave" of the midterms means Republicans will have considerably greater leverage dealing with Barack Obama's waning presidency. In national security matters, however, unlike domestic...

November 11, 2014 11:32 am

0

National Security and the 2016 Election

U.S. national security was one of the determining issues in 2014's Senate and House elections, measurably contributing to significant Republican victories. Contrary to the political...