Antony Blinken

Biography

Antony Blinken was born in Yonkers, New York, in 1962, the son of Donald Blinken, a co-founder of Warburg Pincus and later ambassador to Hungary. After his mother married the Holocaust survivor and lawyer Samuel Pisar he grew up partly in Paris. He studied social studies at Harvard from 1980 to 1984, co-editing The Harvard Crimson, took a law degree at Columbia in 1988 and practised law in New York and Paris; his undergraduate thesis became a book on the Siberian pipeline dispute.

He joined the National Security Council staff under Bill Clinton in 1994, first as senior director for strategic planning and speechwriting and from 1999 for European and Canadian affairs. From 2002 to 2008 he was Democratic staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Joe Biden, helping shape Biden's support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and his later plan for a decentralized Iraq.

In the Obama administration he was Vice President Biden's national security adviser from 2009, deputy national security adviser from 2013 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017, working on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Syria and the response to Russia's annexation of Crimea. Out of office he co-founded the consulting firm WestExec Advisors in 2017.

Confirmed as secretary of state in January 2021, he served throughout Biden's term. His tenure was marked by the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the rallying of support for Ukraine after Russia's 2022 invasion, efforts to manage rivalry with China, negotiations to free detained Americans, and strong backing of Israel in the Gaza war, which drew sustained protest. He left office in January 2025.