Susan Elizabeth Rice was born on November 17,1964 and is an American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official serving as Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council since 2021.
55 Facts About Susan Rice
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Susan Rice was born in Washington, DC, and attended Stanford University and New College, Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar and received a DPhil.
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Susan Rice served on President Bill Clinton's National Security Council staff from 1993 to 1997 and was the assistant secretary of state for African affairs at the State Department from 1997 to 2001.
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Susan Rice defended Israel at the Security Council, pushed for tough sanctions against Iran and North Korea, and advocated for US and NATO intervention in Libya in 2011.
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In 2021, Susan Rice became the director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Biden administration.
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Susan Rice's parents divorced when Rice was ten years of age.
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Susan Rice said that her parents taught her to "never use race as an excuse or advantage," and as a young girl she "dreamed of becoming the first US senator from the District of Columbia".
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Susan Rice was a three-letter varsity athlete, student government president, and valedictorian at National Cathedral School in Washington, DC, a private girls' day school.
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Susan Rice attended Stanford University, where she won a Truman Scholarship and graduated with a BA with honors in history in 1986.
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Susan Rice was awarded a National Merit Scholarship and elected Phi Beta Kappa her junior year.
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Susan Rice attended New College, Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, where she earned Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, both in International Relations.
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Susan Rice served as a foreign policy aide to Michael Dukakis during his campaign in the 1988 presidential election.
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Susan Rice served in the Clinton administration in various capacities: at the National Security Council from 1993 to 1997 ; and as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1997 to 2001.
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Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a longtime mentor and family friend to Susan Rice, urged Clinton to appoint Susan Rice as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in 1997.
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New York Times correspondent Howard W French said that according to his sources, Rice herself made the remark.
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On July 7,1998, Susan Rice was a member of an American delegation to visit detained Nigerian president-elect Basorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.
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Susan Rice supported US efforts to reach both the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement in the Congo and the Lome Peace Accord in Sierra Leone.
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Susan Rice had a contentious relationship with State Department veteran Richard Holbrooke, whom she considered to be meddling on her turf and who in return felt she was rising too quickly in US diplomatic ranks.
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Susan Rice was managing director and principal at Intellibridge from 2001 to 2002.
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Susan Rice went on leave from the Brookings Institution to serve as a senior foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign.
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Susan Rice was one of the first high-profile foreign policy staffers to sign onto Obama's campaign, as most of her peers had supported Hillary Clinton during the presidential primaries.
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On December 1,2008, President-elect Obama announced that he would nominate Susan Rice to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations, a position which he restored to cabinet level.
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Reportedly, Rice had wanted the post of national security advisor, which instead went to retired United States Marine Corps general James L Jones.
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Susan Rice became the second-youngest person and the first black woman to represent the US at the UN.
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Susan Rice won praise for leading the Security Council to impose the toughest sanctions to date on Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programs, and for reaffirming US commitment to the UN and multilateralism.
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Some Republican senators, who would have had a vote on whether to confirm Susan Rice, voiced objections and said their meetings with Susan Rice at the end of November 2012 did not ease their concerns.
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On December 13,2012, in a letter to Obama, Susan Rice asked him to remove her name from consideration for Secretary of State.
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Susan Rice was picked to succeed Tom Donilon as National Security Advisor following Donilon's resignation on June 5,2013.
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In releasing the 2015 National Security Strategy, Susan Rice said that the United States was pursuing an "ambitious yet achievable agenda" overseas.
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Susan Rice argued that US leadership had been essential for success on issues including Ebola, Iran's nuclear program, and sanctioning Russia over Ukraine.
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Susan Rice criticized human rights violations in US-aligned Egypt and condemned the August 2013 Rabaa massacre, in which Egyptian security forces killed over 1,000 people during mass anti-government protests.
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Susan Rice was the lone dissenter in Obama's national security team on his decision to seek congressional authorization for military strikes against Syria's chemical weapons facilities, following the Assad regime's use of sarin gas against civilians in August 2013.
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Susan Rice argued that the administration should move forward with strikes to punish Assad, correctly predicting Congress would not grant authorization.
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In May 2014, Susan Rice traveled to Israel for meetings with Israeli officials in which nuclear talks with Iran were discussed.
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Susan Rice's visit, her first as National Security Advisor, came after peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed.
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The Obama administration made clear that Susan Rice's trip was part of regularly scheduled talks and that the stalled Middle East peace discussions were not on the agenda.
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Susan Rice was criticized by some for intensifying the Obama administration's conflicts with Israel during her time as National Security Advisor.
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Susan Rice negotiated a new memorandum of understanding between the US and Israel in 2016 for $38 billion in military assistance, the largest such package in Israel's history.
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The Obama administration supported the Saudi-and Emirati-led intervention in Yemen and blockade of Yemen, but Susan Rice opposed a coalition attack on the port city of Al Hudaydah and personally called UAE crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed to stop the planned offensive.
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Susan Rice ultimately joined calls for an arms embargo against South Sudan in 2016, but the measure failed to win passage at the UN Security Council.
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Susan Rice was perceived as close to Rwanda's president Paul Kagame.
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On March 8,2017, Susan Rice became a distinguished visiting research fellow in the School of International Service at American University.
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On March 28,2018, Susan Rice was appointed to the board of directors at Netflix.
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The report of Susan Rice unmasking Trump officials followed an announcement by Devin Nunes, the Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee, "that he had seen reports indicating that Mr Trump or his associates might have been 'incidentally' swept up in the monitoring of foreigners".
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Congressional intelligence sources called Susan Rice's unmasking requests "normal and appropriate" for a national security adviser.
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Susan Rice testified to the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017 that she requested the unmasking because of a redacted intelligence report concerning an undisclosed visit to the United States by United Arab Emirates crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in December 2016.
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Susan Rice criticized the United States' close relationship with Saudi Arabia despite the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses, Saudi Arabia's diplomatic dispute with Canada, Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and Saudi Arabian-led blockade against Qatar.
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Susan Rice has criticized Israeli proposals to annex parts of the West Bank and Jordan Valley, stating that such a move would make it more difficult to sustain traditionally bipartisan support for Israel in the United States.
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Susan Rice takes the view that a two-state solution is the only way to keep Israel both a Jewish and democratic state.
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In July 2020, it was widely reported that Susan Rice was under consideration to be Joe Biden's vice presidential running mate in the 2020 general election.
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On September 5,2020, Susan Rice was announced to be a member of the advisory council of the Biden-Harris Transition Team, which planned the Biden's presidential transition.
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Susan Rice is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times.
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Susan Rice is currently on the board of Netflix and is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Susan Rice married former ABC News executive producer Ian Officer Cameron on September 12,1992, at the St Albans School chapel in Washington DC They met as students at Stanford and have two children.
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Susan Rice was inducted into Stanford's Black Alumni Hall of Fame in 2002.