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Ben Rhodes (White House staffer)

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Ben Rhodes
Deputy National Security Advisor
for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting
In office
January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byMichael Anton
Personal details
Born (1977-11-14) 14 November 1977 (age 47)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseAnn Norris
EducationRice University (BA)
New York University (MFA)

Benjamin J. "Ben" Rhodes (born 14 November 1977) is a former White House staff member who served as the Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications for U.S. President Barack Obama and as an Advisor on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran.

During the Obama administration, Rhodes' official title was "Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting."[1] He served as Obama's foreign policy speechwriter from 2007 until the end of Obama's presidency.

Early life and education

Rhodes was born in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He is the son of an Episcopalian father from Texas and a Jewish mother from New York.[2]He attended the Collegiate School, graduating in 1996.[3][4] Rhodes then attended Rice University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 2000 with majors in English and political science. He then moved back to New York, attending New York University and graduating in 2002 with an MFA in creative writing.[5] His brother, David Rhodes, is President of CBS News.[6]

Early political career

In the summer of 1997, Rhodes volunteered with the Rudy Giuliani mayoral campaign. In the summer of 2001, he worked on the New York City Council campaign of Diana Reyna.[7]

Foreign policy speechwriter and adviser

President Barack Obama and Rhodes on board Air Force One, editing the speech for the Mandela memorial service.

In 2002, James Gibney, editor of Foreign Policy, introduced Rhodes to Lee Hamilton, former member of the House of Representatives and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, who was looking for a speechwriter.[4] Rhodes then spent five years as an assistant to Hamilton, helping to draft the Iraq Study Group Report and the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.[8]

In 2007, Rhodes began working as a speechwriter for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign.[9]

Rhodes wrote Obama's 2009 Cairo speech "A New Beginning".[10] Rhodes was the adviser who counseled Obama to withdraw support from Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, becoming a key adviser during the 2011 Arab Spring.[2]

Rhodes was instrumental in the conversations that led to Obama reestablishing the United States' diplomatic relations with Cuba, which had been cut off since 1961. The New York Times reported that Rhodes spent "more than a year sneaking off to secret negotiations in Canada and finally at the Vatican" in advance of the official announcement in December 2014.[11]

In March 2013, Rhodes declined to comment on his role in Obama administration policy decisions, saying, "My main job, which has always been my job, is to be the person who represents the president’s view on these issues."[2] In a May 2016 New York Times profile about him, Rhodes' colleagues in the White House said he spent two to three hours a day with Obama, and Rhodes himself said, "I don’t know anymore where I begin and Obama ends.”[9]

Controversies

In a controversial profile in the New York Times Magazine, Rhodes was quoted "deriding the D.C. press corps and boasting of how he created an 'echo chamber' to market the administration's foreign policy," including the international nuclear agreement with Iran.[12][13][14] The response to the piece was critical, with Fred Kaplan writing that Rhodes came across as "insular and self-centered."[14]

In a post on Medium following the article's publication, Rhodes argued "that the administration had made no attempt to mislead", but offered "an apology of sorts to any reporters he might have offended", and denied "his efforts to build support for the deal were disingenuous."[13]

On August 2, 2017, it was revealed that Obama administration aide Ben Rhodes is the focus of the House Intelligence Committee investigation of espionage for the illegal unmasking of Americans during the 2016 presidential campaign. The Intelligence Committee had “found evidence that current and former government officials had easy access to U.S. person information and that it is possible that they used this information to achieve partisan political purposes, including the selective, anonymous leaking of such information,” [15] Further, Rhodes has been quoted, "I don’t know anymore where I begin and Obama ends.”[9] Previously, Obama era U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and CIA Director John Brennan had also been named as persons of interest by the Intelligence Committee.

Awards and honors

In 2011, Rhodes was on Time magazine's "40 Under 40" list of powerful and prominent young professionals.[16]

Personal life

Rhodes is married to Ann Norris, who was chief foreign policy adviser to former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). They have one daughter, Ella Harper.[17]

References

  1. ^ "White House Profile: Ben Rhodes". Retrieved September 29, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Landler, Mark (March 16, 2013). "Worldly at 35, and Shaping Obama's Voice". New York Times.
  3. ^ "Election 2008: Ben Rhodes '96, Speechwriter and Advisor to Barack Obama". Collegiate School. October 27, 2008. Retrieved September 24, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Jason Horowitz (January 12, 2010). "Obama speechwriter pens a different script for the world stage". Washington Post. Retrieved September 24, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Election 2008: Ben Rhodes '96, Speechwriter and Advisor to Barack Obama". Collegiate School. October 27, 2008. Retrieved September 24, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Brian Steinberg (November 20, 2014). "David Rhodes To Take Over CBS News As Jeff Fager Steps Down". Variety. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  7. ^ Jason Horowitz (January 12, 2010). "Obama speechwriter pens a different script for the world stage". Washington Post. Retrieved September 24, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "White House Profile: Ben Rhodes". Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  9. ^ a b c Samuels, David (May 5, 2016). "The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama's Foreign-Policy Guru". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  10. ^ "Who Wrote Obama's Cairo Speech?". June 5, 2009.
  11. ^ Davis, Julie Hirschfeld; Baker, Peter (August 13, 2015). "A Secretive Path to Raising U.S. Flag in Cuba". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  12. ^ Paul Farhi (May 6, 2016). "Obama official says he pushed a 'narrative' to media to sell the Iran nuclear deal". Washington Post. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  13. ^ a b Blake Hounshell; Nick Gass (May 8, 2016). "White House aide Ben Rhodes responds to controversial New York Times profile". Politico. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  14. ^ a b Fred Kaplan (May 9, 2016). "Ben Rhodes Needs Some Fresh Air: Why Obama's foreign-policy adviser comes across as insular and self-centered in a New York Times Magazine profile". Slate. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  15. ^ Fox News, Ben Rhodes new focus of 'unmasking' investigation, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/08/02/ben-rhodes-new-focus-unmasking-investigation.html , August 2, 2017
  16. ^ "Ben Rhodes: 40 Under 40". TIME. October 14, 2010. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  17. ^ Jack Shafer (March 18, 2013). "Beat sweetener: The Benjamin J. Rhodes edition". reuters.com. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
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