71st U.S. Secretary of State
Secretary Antony J. Blinken: Biography at a Glance
- As America’s 71st Secretary of State, Antony Blinken didn’t just witness the shifting tides of global power — he helped steer through them.
- From confronting rising authoritarianism to revitalizing frayed alliances, Secretary Blinken shaped U.S. diplomacy in one of the most turbulent and consequential periods in recent history.
- Having held senior foreign policy roles under Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden, Blinken has helped write the playbook for American leadership in the 21st century. His experience is deep, bipartisan, and hard-won on the frontlines of diplomacy.
- From the war in Ukraine to Middle East flashpoints to global pandemic coordination, Blinken has sat at the nexus of power, driving the U.S. government’s toughest national security decisions. He brings an insider’s clarity to how decisions are made when the stakes are highest.
- Far from treating climate as a side issue, Blinken elevated it as core to America’s foreign policy. He worked to galvanize international cooperation and lock climate action into the architecture of global diplomacy, making the case that planetary health and geopolitical stability are inseparable.
- Whether addressing conflict and cooperation, the battle for democratic values, or the shifting sands of the global economy, Blinken translates complexity into clarity. He offers not just analysis, but perspective — shaped by decades in the room where it happens — to help audiences navigate a world in flux.
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Biography
Antony J. Blinken served as the 71st Secretary of State of the United States from January 2021 to January 2025. A seasoned diplomat and foreign policy expert, Blinken’s career has spanned decades, marked by an unwavering commitment to advancing American interests, restoring alliances, and promoting diplomacy as the cornerstone of international relations.
Blinken worked closely with Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden in senior roles including as Deputy Secretary of State under President Obama from 2015 to 2017.
Before serving as Deputy Secretary of State, Blinken was Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama. In that capacity, he chaired the inter-agency Deputies Committee, the administration’s principal forum for formulating foreign policy. During the first term of the Obama Administration, he was National Security advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden. Blinken served for six years on Capitol Hill (2002 – 2008) as Democratic Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee under then-Chairman Biden.
Blinken was a member of President Clinton’s National Security Council staff at the White House from 1994 to 2001. From 1999 to 2001, he was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs – President Clinton’s principal advisor for relations with the countries of Europe, the European Union, and NATO. From 1994 through 1998, Blinken was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Speechwriting and then Strategic Planning, overseeing foreign policy planning, communications, and speechwriting and serving as President Clinton's chief foreign policy speechwriter.
Blinken began his government service at the State Department where, from 1993 to 1994, he served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs.
After leaving the Clinton Administration, he was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies between 2001 and 2002. After leaving the Obama Administration, he co-founded WestEx Advisors, a strategic advisory firm.
Prior to joining the Clinton Administration, Blinken practiced law in New York and Paris. He has been a reporter for The New Republic magazine and has written about foreign policy for numerous publications including The New York Times (where he was a contributing opinion writer), The New York Times Magazine, and Foreign Affairs. He is the author of Ally Versus Ally: America, Europe and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis (Praeger, 1987). Blinken attended grade school and high school in Paris, France where he received a French Baccalaureat degree with high honors. He is a graduate of Harvard College Magna cum Laude and Columbia Law School.