Joel Rubin
Joel Rubin is a leading national security, foreign policy, and congressional expert who assists corporate, non-profit and international clients in achieving their policy goals through advocacy campaigns, media engagement, and precision lobbying. He is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs in the Obama Administration, where he directed the State Department’s work with the U.S. House of Representatives. With nearly 20 years of experience in Washington, Joel has a frequent presence in the national media and has held senior foreign policy positions in government and on Capitol Hill and has also run for Congress, providing him with a unique skill set to help clients navigate the political dimensions of U.S. foreign policy.
Joel launched his career in international affairs as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica. He then joined the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Energy Department as a Presidential Management Fellow. Later, he served as a career Foreign Affairs Officer at the State Department in both Near Eastern Affairs and Political-Military Affairs. Joel also served as a senior aide in the U.S. Senate, joining Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) as a Brookings Institution Legislative Fellow and then Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) as National Security Advisor, during which time he won the ‘Congressional Staffer of the Year’ award from the Military Officers Association of America. In the non-governmental field, Joel led political advocacy campaigns on national security, Middle East, and nuclear weapons policies at Ploughshares Fund, the National Security Network, and J Street, where he was the organization’s founding Political Director.
Joel is a frequent national security and foreign policy media commentator. He is an expert contributor to Axios, The Hill, and the Washington Jewish Week and has a regular presence on both domestic television networks, such as MSNBC and FOX, and on international television. He provides forward-thinking commentary on a broad array of topics ranging from American politics to Congress to foreign policy topics such as the Middle East, Russia, and nuclear weapons. He is also an elected local government official, serving on the Town Council of Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Joel holds a Master of Science degree in Public Policy and Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics from Brandeis University. He currently serves as Adjunct Faculty at Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College graduate public policy and management program in Washington D.C., where he teaches a course on how Washington works. In his free time, he enjoys spending quality time with his family and walking his rescue dog, Maddy.
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