Brussels Forum Session: NATO at 75: Looking Ahead to the Washington Summit

Julianne Smith was appointed US permanent representative to NATO in November 2021. She was previously a senior advisor to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and director of GMF’s Asia and Geopolitics programs.

Smith served as director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) from 2014 to 2018. She was acting national security advisor and deputy national security advisor to the US vice president from 2012 to 2013. Before that, she served for three years as the principal director for European and NATO policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. She was awarded the Medal for Exceptional Public Service in 2012.

Prior to her government service, Smith held various positions at research institutions including the Center for Strategic and International Studies and GMF.  

Smith has written extensively on transatlantic relations and European security. She is a recipient of the Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship at the Bosch Academy in Berlin and the Fredin Memorial Scholarship for study at the Sorbonne. She received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2017.