Elliott Abrams

Elliott Abrams served as the U.S. Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela at the Department of State from 2020 to 2021. Prior to this, he held the position of Special Representative for Venezuela. Abrams has an extensive background in government, having served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs from 2002 to 2005, and Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy from 2005 to 2009 in the administration of President George W. Bush. He was responsible for overseeing U.S. policy in the Middle East and related areas. Abrams was educated at Harvard College, the London School of Economics, and Harvard Law School. He began his governmental career on the staffs of Senators Henry M. Jackson and Daniel P. Moynihan, and later served as an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration. He has received accolades including the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award and the Scholar-Statesman Award from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in 2012.

Apart from his government service, Abrams is also a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., a position he resumed after a leave of absence. He served as president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., from 1996 until joining the White House staff. He teaches U.S. foreign policy at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and is a board member of several institutes including the Jewish People Policy Institute and the Israel Democracy Institute. He has served on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council and is the Chairman of both the Vandenberg Coalition and the Tikvah Fund.

As an author, Abrams has written several books on U.S. foreign policy and Middle Eastern affairs including "Realism and Democracy: American Foreign Policy after the Arab Spring" and "Tested by Zion: The Bush Administration and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." He is also fluent in French and Spanish, which complements his international expertise and engagement in global discussions.