1. Derek Chollet is an American foreign policy advisor and author who had served as chief of staff to the United States Secretary of Defense.
22 Facts About Derek Chollet
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Derek Chollet served as the counselor of the United States Department of State from 2021 to 2024.
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Previously, Chollet was the executive vice president for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
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From 2012 to 2014, Derek Chollet was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, where he managed US defense policy involving Europe, NATO, the Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere for Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel.
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Derek Chollet was born in Illinois in 1970 and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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Derek Chollet graduated from Lincoln Southeast High School in 1989.
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Derek Chollet earned a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in 1993.
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From 2002 to 2004, Derek Chollet was foreign policy adviser to US senator John Edwards, both on his legislative staff and during the 2004 Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign.
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From 2011 to 2012, Derek Chollet served in the White House Office as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning on the United States National Security Council.
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Derek Chollet has been a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the American Academy in Berlin.
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Derek Chollet has been a visiting scholar and adjunct professor at George Washington University and an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University.
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Derek Chollet aided Richard Holbrooke in writing his book To End a War.
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Derek Chollet is the author of The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America's Role in the World.
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Derek Chollet was a contributing editor to Foreign Policy, where he co-edited "Shadow Government," and he was a regular contributor to Defense One.
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Derek Chollet is an advisor to Beacon Global Strategies and an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at the Arnold A Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.
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In November 2020, Derek Chollet was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition agency review team to support transition efforts related to the United States Department of State.
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On July 24,2023, the Biden administration nominated Derek Chollet to replace Colin Kahl as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, but his nomination was held up by Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama.
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On March 30,2024, Derek Chollet met with anti-Myanmar junta representatives from the Kachin Independence Organization, Karen National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party, and Chin National Front to discuss future US relations with a federal Myanmar.
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On June 24,2024, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tapped Derek Chollet to be the Pentagon's Chief of Staff.
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Derek Chollet is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, the State Department Superior Honor Award, the Latvia Minister of Defense Medal of Honorary Recognition, and the Lithuania Minister of Defense Medal of Merit.
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Derek Chollet is the author, co-author or co-editor of six books on American foreign policy.
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Derek Chollet has contributed nearly two dozen op-eds to Defense One, a national-security publication based in Washington, DC.