James Steinberg

Jim Steinberg
Official portrait, 2021
10th Dean of Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies
Incumbent
Assumed office November 1, 2021
Preceded by	Eliot Cohen
16th United States Deputy Secretary of State
In office January 29, 2009 – July 28, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	John Negroponte
Succeeded by	William J. Burns
20th United States Deputy National Security Advisor
In office December 23, 1996 – August 1, 2000
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Sandy Berger
Succeeded by	Stephen Hadley
18th Director of Policy Planning
In office March 21, 1994 – December 23, 1996
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Samuel W. Lewis
Succeeded by	Gregory B. Craig
Personal details
Born	(1953-05-07) May 7, 1953 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Sherburne Abbott
Children	2
Education	Harvard University (BA) Yale University (JD)

James Braidy Steinberg (born May 7, 1953) is an American academic administrator and former diplomat, who served as the United States deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration. He has been the dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University since November 1, 2021. Previously he was a professor at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Biography

Early career

Steinberg was born to a Jewish family in Boston, Massachusetts. He was educated at Phillips Academy (1970), Harvard College (1973), and Yale Law School (1978). His previous positions included a senior fellowship for US Strategic Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, UK (1985–1987), and senior analyst at RAND Corporation (1989–1993). Steinberg also served as a Senior Advisor to the Markle Foundation (2000–2001) and was a member of the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age.

Early campaign work

During the national elections which brought President Jimmy Carter into office, Steinberg worked on the presidential campaign of the Carter-Mondale ticket. He also worked as a foreign policy advisor for Michael Dukakis's 1988 campaign.

Clinton administration

Steinberg served as the U.S. State Department's director of policy planning (1994–1996), then as deputy national security advisor (December 1996–2001) to President Bill Clinton. He also served on the Project on National Security Reform's Guiding Coalition.

Brookings Institution director and Lyndon B. Johnson School dean

After serving in the Clinton administration, Steinberg was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., and the institution's vice president and director of foreign policy studies (2001–2005). Steinberg was then dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin (2006–2009) until his appointment as deputy secretary of state on January 28, 2009, taking a leave of absence from the school for the duration of his term in office.

Obama administration

with Yukio Edano (January 27, 2011)

According to The Wall Street Journal, Steinberg, along with Daniel C. Kurtzer and Dennis Ross, were among the principal authors of Barack Obama’s address on the Middle East to AIPAC in June 2008, which was viewed as the Democratic Party nominee’s most expansive on international affairs.

He was mentioned as being "at the top" of Obama's list of candidates for the post of national security advisor, but Andrea Mitchell reported on November 24, 2008, that Hillary Clinton would appoint Steinberg deputy secretary of state. On December 23, 2008, Steinberg himself confirmed the appointment in a letter addressed to students and faculty at the Johnson School.

As deputy secretary of state and principal deputy to secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Steinberg notably coined the phrase "strategic reassurance" to describe China–United States relations suggestive of the idea that the United States should reassure China about welcoming China's rise while China would reassure the US and its neighbors that it would not conflict with their interests.

In October 2010, Steinberg met with Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, in Washington, D.C., where they discussed how to improve regional security and stability through boosting and growing the already strong cooperation between their two nations. During the talks, both delegates expressed their commitment to a lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors and their grave concern regarding Iran’s continued non-compliance with its international obligations through pursuit of a military nuclear program.

The following spring, they met in Jerusalem where they again took advantage of the opportunity to work together to identify and strategize against the threats both countries face including the rapidly changing political situation in the Middle East and the ongoing Iranian nuclear program.

Post-Obama administration

In March 2011, Steinberg was named dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. On July 28, 2011, he resigned as deputy secretary of state and assumed his new position. His term as dean ended in 2016.

In November 2021, Steinberg was named the tenth dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS.

Steinberg is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also serves as senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group.

On January 14, 2024, a U.S. delegation composed of Steinberg and Stephen J. Hadley arrived in Taipei in the aftermath of Taiwan's 2024 presidential election.

Publications

Articles

• The Perils of Estrangement (in What Does America Want From China?), Foreign Affairs, May 30, 2024 (co-authored with Jessica Chen Weiss)

Personal life

He is married to Sherburne B. Abbott, vice president for sustainability initiatives and University Professor of Sustainability Science and Policy at Syracuse University. They have two daughters, Jenna and Emma.

Bibliography

• Gavin, Francis J. & James B. Steinberg (Spring 2012). "Mind the gap : why policymakers and scholars ignore each other, and what should be done about it" (PDF). Carnegie Reporter. 6 (4): 10–17.
• Steinberg, James B. (July 2012). "2012—a watershed year for East Asia?". Roundtable: Turning to the Pacific : U.S. Strategic Rebalancing toward Asia. Asia Policy. 14: 22–25. doi:10.1353/asp.2012.0022. S2CID 140555459.

External links

• James Steinberg [1] Archived January 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine at The American Assembly's Next Generation Project
• James B. Steinberg at US State Department
• Research and commentary at the Brookings Institution
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• James Steinberg on Charlie Rose
• James Steinberg collected news and commentary at Al Jazeera English
• James Steinberg collected news and commentary at Fox News
• James Steinberg collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
• James Steinberg collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Preventive war, a useful tool (by James Steinberg/Ivo Daalder). December 4, 2005
• Policy Challenges and Opportunities for the United States in Asia Archived August 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine (Keynote address from 2010 Asia Policy Assembly, June 17, 2010)