| Phil Gordon | |
| Office: | National Security Advisor to the Vice President |
| Vicepresident: | Kamala Harris |
| Term Start: | March 21, 2022 |
| Predecessor: | Nancy McEldowney |
| Office1: | Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States |
| Vicepresident1: | Kamala Harris |
| Term Start1: | January 20, 2021 |
| Term End1: | March 21, 2022 |
| Predecessor1: | Stephen Pinkos |
| Successor1: | Rebecca Lissner |
| Office2: | 24th Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs |
| President2: | Barack Obama |
| Term Start2: | May 15, 2009 |
| Term End2: | March 11, 2013 |
| Predecessor2: | Daniel Fried |
| Successor2: | Victoria Nuland |
| Party: | Democratic |
Philip H. "Phil" Gordon (born 1962) is an American diplomat and international relations scholar. Since March 21, 2022, he has served as Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Earlier in his career, he was Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs (2009 - 2011) and Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf Region (2013 - 2015) during the Obama administration.[1] [2]
Gordon received a BA from Ohio University in 1984, a MA and PhD from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 1987 and 1991, respectively.[3]
Gordon held a number of research and teaching positions, including at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.; the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London; INSEAD, the global graduate business school in Fontainebleau; the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (“Sciences Po”) in Paris; and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik in Bonn.[3]
From 1998 to 1999, he served as the Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton.[3]
Gordon was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution was 1999 to 2009, focusing his scholarship on Turkey, Iraq, and U.S.-Europe relations. He co-authored five books on France, Turkey, Iraq, and the Middle East.[4]
Gordon was a senior foreign policy advisor for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
In the Obama administration, Gordon served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from May 2009 to March 2013. During his time as Assistant Secretary, Gordon prioritized cooperation with Europe on global issues; promoting U.S. commercial and business interests; extending stability, prosperity and democracy to Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus; and developing bilateral cooperation with Russia and with Turkey.
On March 11, 2013, Gordon was appointed Special Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region at the NSC. According to the Daily Beast, Gordon (who is Jewish himself[5]) did not have much experience with the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, but was appointed due to his decades of experience in the Beltway and deep knowledge of how Washington worked.
After he stepped down from the Obama administration, Gordon was one of the biggest boosters of the Iran nuclear deal. He has been described as associated with the progressive wing of the national security continuum.[6]
Between the Obama and Biden administrations, Gordon worked as the Mary and David Boies senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he focused on U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East, and Europe. He was also a Senior Adviser at Albright Stonebridge Group.[7]
He joined the Council on Foreign Relations in April 2015 as a senior fellow focused on U.S. foreign and national security policy; U.S. policy in the Middle East; Israeli-Palestinian issues; Middle East regional issues; Europe and the EU; Russia; Turkey; nuclear weapons; intelligence; terrorism; and international economics.[8]
During the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Gordon was a foreign policy advisor to Kamala Harris' campaign.
At the start of the Biden Administration, Gordon was named Deputy National Security Advisor to Vice President Harris. On March 21, 2022, Gordon succeeded Nancy McEldowney as National Security Advisor to the Vice President.[9] [10] During the Israel-Hamas war, Gordon took a high-profile trip to Israel and the West Bank, meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
In August 2024, Gordon said that Kamala Harris did not support an arms embargo on Israel.[11]
Gordon has published articles in The New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, the Atlantic, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Le Monde, and elsewhere.
He has also authored several books, including:
He has also translated two books: Nicolas Sarkozy's Testimony: France, Europe, and the World in the Twenty-First Century, 2007, and Hubert Vedrine's France in the Age of Globalization, 2001.