John R. Bolton served as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from April 2018 until his resignation in September 2019. From 2007 until 2018, he was a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. He was appointed as United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations in August 2005 and served until his resignation in December 2006. Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Bolton served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 2001 to 2005.
While Under Secretary of State, Ambassador Bolton repeatedly advocated tough measures against the nuclear weapons programs of both Iran and North Korea and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction worldwide. He led negotiations for America to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty so that the Bush Administration could proceed with a national missile-defense program.
Ambassador Bolton is the author of The Room Where It Happened (2020), Surrender is Not an Option: Defending America at the U.N. and Abroad (2007), and How Barack Obama is Endangering our National Sovereignty (2010).
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he graduated with a B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale College in 1970, and received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1974. He resides in Maryland with his wife, Gretchen. Their daughter, Jennifer Sarah, is a graduate of Yale College and MIT.
