Ben Rhodes is the author of the New York Times bestsellers After the Fall and The World As It Is; a contributor for NBC News, MSNBC and Crooked Media; and an advisor to former President Barack Obama. During the Trump administration, Mr. Rhodes served as Co-chair of National Security Action. From 2009-2017, Mr. Rhodes served as a Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama. In that capacity, he participated in nearly all of President Obama’s key decisions, and oversaw the President’s national security communications, speechwriting, public diplomacy, and global engagement programming. He also led the secret negotiations with the Cuban government which resulted in the effort to normalize relations between the United States and Cuba, and supported the negotiations to conclude the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran. Prior to joining the administration, he was a Senior Speechwriter and foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign. From 2002-2007, he worked for former Congressman Lee Hamilton, supporting his work on the 9/11 Commission and Iraq Study Group.
A native New Yorker, Mr. Rhodes has a B.A. from Rice University and an MFA from New York University. Follow Mr. Rhodes on X at @BRhodes.
Explore some of Mr. Rhodes’ recent commentary:
- Gaza: The Cost of Escalation — The New York Review, 10/18/2023
- Biden’s visit to Israel during wartime ‘unprecedented’ says Ben Rhodes — Ben Rhodes, MSNBC, 10/16/23
- U.S. should be telling Israel to ‘think very hard’ about the scale of their next attacks — MSNBC, 10/14/23
- The Double Life of John Le Carré — The Atlantic, 2/28/23
- What Kind of Man Was Anthony Bourdain? — The Atlantic, 11/29/22
- Taiwan Prepares to Be Invaded — The Atlantic, 11/7/22
- Why No One Believes American Rhetoric About Democracy — The Atlantic, 7/12/22
- We Have Reached a Hinge of History — The Atlantic, 3/13/22
- This Is No Time for Passive Patriotism — The Atlantic, 1/28/22
- Has the Myth of the ‘Good War’ Done Us Lasting Harm? — The New York Times, 12/1/21
- After 20 Years, Biden’s Afghanistan Withdrawal Has Finally Ended the 9/11 Era — The Guardian, 9/10/21
- How America Lets Its Enemies Hijack Its Foreign Policy — Foreign Affairs, 8/24/21
- Future Foreign Policy series featuring Ben Rhodes — Atlantic Council, 7/20/21
- Podcast: American democracy is in danger, warns Ben Rhodes — GZero, 7/17/21
- Q&A: Ben Rhodes — Chatham House, 7/15/21
- Ben Rhodes joins Jewish Insider’s ‘Limited Liability Podcast’ — Jewish Insider, 6/1/21
- Former Obama Staffer Grapples With U.S. Foreign Policy’s Effect On World — MSNBC The Choice, 6/9/21
- After the Fall — Penguin Random House, 6/21
- Then She Asked Me About Benghazi — The Atlantic, 5/26/21
- The Path to Autocracy — The Atlantic, 6/15/20
- The 9/11 Era Is Over — The Atlantic, 4/6/20
- How Trump Designed His White House to Fail — The Atlantic, 3/20/21
- An Extraordinarily Dangerous Moment — The Atlantic, 1/5/21