Alex Kahan

Alex Kahan currently serves as Special Assistant to the Counselor of the Department of State. In this capacity, she helps the Counselor formulate strategic policy recommendations to the Secretary of State related to Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. In this position she has also overseen Western Hemisphere affairs, including on Venezuela and Central America policy, and led an effort to develop a new city diplomacy initiative for climate change goals pursuant with the Department’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.

At the Department Alex also served as Senior Advisor for Ebola Response at the height of the Ebola outbreak. She was previously Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, where she supported efforts to achieve progress on countering violent extremism, corruption issues, atrocity prevention, and organizational change.

Prior to joining State, Alex was Advisor to the Deputy National Security Advisor to the President. In this capacity she oversaw the management of the Deputies Committee policymaking process to support all Administration national-security priorities. She previously served as Advisor to the Vice President’s National Security Advisor.

Alex graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a B.A. in History and Italian Studies.