Julianne Smith

About

Ambassador Julianne (“Julie”) Smith is the president and co-founder of Clarion Strategies and a distinguished nonresident fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She was U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO from 2021 to 2024. 

Previously, Smith was a senior adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State in 2021, and deputy national security adviser to the vice president and principal director for European and NATO policy in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense during the Obama administration. In addition to advising the vice president on a wide range of foreign and defense policy issues, Smith represented him in Cabinet and Deputies level interagency meetings. During March and April of 2013, she served as the acting national security advisor to the vice president.

Outside of government, Smith has directed the Transatlantic Security Program at CNAS, launching “Across the Pond, in the Field,” a project that takes American and European policymakers to cites across the United States to discuss U.S. foreign policy. Before she directed the Transatlantic Security Program, she ran the Strategy and Statecraft Program at CNAS.

Smith holds an MA in international relations from American University and a BA in communications and French from Xavier University.

Courses Taught

GLBL 7828: The Future of NATO