Communicating Policy at Home and Abroad with Ben Rhodes
Getting policy right is critical, but unless it’s communicated effectively, that policy may never see the light of day. In this session, we’ll explore talking about foreign policy to domestic audiences, talking about domestic policy to foreign audiences, and the importance of strategic communications to strategic policymaking.
GUEST: Ben Rhodes, Host of Pod Save The World and Former Deputy National Security Advisor, will join Resident Fellow Brett Rosenberg virtually for the October 29 session.
Ben Rhodes is a writer, political commentator, and national security analyst. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers “After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made,” and “The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House.” He is currently co-host of Pod Save the World; a contributor for MSNBC; a senior advisor to former President Barack Obama; and chair of National Security Action, which he co-founded with Jake Sullivan in 2018.
From 2009-2017, Ben served as a speechwriter and Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama. In that capacity, he participated in all of President Obama’s key decisions, oversaw the President’s national security communications and public diplomacy, and led the secret negotiations with the Cuban government that resulted in the effort to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba.
His work has also been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Foreign Affairs. A native New Yorker, Ben has a B.A. from Rice University and an M.F.A from New York University.
AUDIENCE: These conversations are open to members of the Harvard community. Please RSVP with a valid Harvard email address.
OFF-THE-RECORD: In keeping with our long tradition at the IOP to ensure honest and candid discussions of politics, all IOP study groups are off-the-record.
Speakers and Presenters
Ben Rhodes, Host of Pod Save The World and Former Deputy National Security Advisor