Jon Finer

Jon Finer is the senior distinguished fellow in residence for The Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School. He served as President Joe Biden’s principal deputy national security advisor from 2021–2025 and received the National Security Medal, the highest White House award for contributions to national security. Prior to joining President Biden’s staff, he was global head of geo-political and policy affairs at Warburg Pincus LLC and an adjunct senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Before that, he was chief of staff and director of policy planning at the U.S. Department of State. He also worked in the White House during President Barack Obama’s first term, including as senior adviser to then-deputy national security adviser Antony Blinken and as special adviser for the Middle East and North Africa and foreign policy speechwriter for then-Vice President Biden. He first joined the Obama administration as a White House Fellow. 

Prior to entering government service, Finer was a foreign and national correspondent for The Washington Post, where he reported on four conflicts, including the invasion of Iraq, and from more than 20 countries. As a Yale Law student, he co-founded the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). He has taught or been a fellow at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; Reiss Center for Law and Security, New York University; Princeton School of International Affairs; Institute for Advanced Study; and the Institute of Politics, Harvard University. Finer is co-host of “The Long Game,” a Vox Media podcast; a distinguished senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; and serves on the board of trustees of World Learning, the Advisory Board of Foreign Policy for America, and the Strategic Advisory Council at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.