Nadia Catherine Schadlow[1] (born c. 1965) is an American academic and defense-related government officer who briefly served in 2018 as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy in the first Trump Administration.[2] She is the primary author of the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS).

Nadia Schadlow
2nd United States Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy
In office
January 21, 2018 – April 27, 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byDina Powell
Succeeded byVacant
Personal details
Born1965 (age 58–59)
Political partyRepublican
EducationCornell University (BA)
Johns Hopkins University (MA, PhD)

Early life, education and family

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Schadlow grew up in Bedford Hills, New York. She holds a B.A. degree in government and Soviet studies from Cornell University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.[3] She has three children.[4]

Political positions

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Schadlow has been described as a neoconservative.[5]

Early government career

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Schadlow started as a civil servant at the Department of Defense focusing on the Soviet Union and the newly independent Ukraine within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.[6] Later, she served on the Defense Policy Board from September 2006 to June 2009.[3]

Academic career

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Schadlow is a full member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her articles have appeared in Parameters, The American Interest, the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Philanthropy, and she has written chapters for several edited volumes.[3] She is author of the book, War and the Art of Governance: Consolidating Combat Success Into Political Victory, which looks at cases in which militaries are involved in non-military governance activities.[7]

National Security Council

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Schadlow was appointed to the National Security Council staff by long-time colleague H.R. McMaster in March 2017.[8] Upon her appointment, journalist Thomas E. Ricks described both her and Fiona Hill, who joined the NSC at the same time, as "well-educated, skeptical, and informed..."[8] During this time, Schadlow became the primary author of the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS).[9] Her work on the document and the inter-agency process that preceded it were well received by foreign policy experts across the political spectrum.[10][11][12] About a year later, Schadlow would comment that the NSS had "achieved the state of mattering".[13]

Schadlow was chosen to replace Dina Powell as deputy national security advisor in January 2018, although her tenure was brief.[14] After John R. Bolton replaced McMaster as National Security Advisor on April 9, 2018, it was announced that Schadlow would resign effective April 27.[15][16] Her departure was seen as part of a larger "cleaning house" that Bolton undertook upon appointment.[16]

Post-NSC career

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Following her resignation from the NSC, she joined the Hudson Institute as a Senior Fellow and became a Fellow at Schmidt Futures.[17][18] Schadlow is also an Advisory Board Member of Spirit of America.[19] As of October 2023, she serves on the Special Competitive Studies Project's board of advisors.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Weddings; Nadia C. Schadlow, Philip M. Murphy". The New York Times. 6 September 1993. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  2. ^ "McMaster makes his pick to replace Powell on the NSC". Politico. Archived from the original on 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  3. ^ a b c "Nadia Schadlow, Author at War on the Rocks". War on the Rocks. Archived from the original on 2018-03-28. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  4. ^ War and the Art of Governance, p. xiv
  5. ^ Larison, Daniel (11 November 2022). "The battle for who owns 'conservative statecraft'". Responsible Statecraft.
  6. ^ "Nadia Schadlow interview" Archived 2019-12-29 at the Wayback Machine, Intelligence Matters, CBS News, 2018.
  7. ^ Scales, Robert H. (2017-04-06). "What Happens After Victory". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2018-04-11. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  8. ^ a b "N. Schadlow and F. Hill land at the NSC". Foreign Policy. 20 March 2017. Archived from the original on 2018-04-11. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  9. ^ "A Polished "America First" National Security Strategy - Security Studies Group". securitystudies.org. 18 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  10. ^ Cordesman, Anthony H. (21 December 2017). "Giving the New National Security Strategy the Attention It Deserves". www.csis.org. Archived from the original on 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  11. ^ "Trump's New National-Security Strategy Projects Confidence". Archived from the original on 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  12. ^ "A Polished "America First" National Security Strategy - Security Studies Group". securitystudies.org. 18 December 2017. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  13. ^ "The U.S. National security strategy: One year later - WDEF". Archived from the original on 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
  14. ^ Karni, Annie (21 January 2018). "McMaster makes his pick to replace Powell on the NSC". Politico.
  15. ^ Jeremy Diamond; Jenna McLaughlin. "Deputy national security adviser Nadia Schadlow resigns". CNN. Archived from the original on 2018-04-11. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  16. ^ a b "McMaster's No. 2 to leave White House amid Bolton overhaul". www.politico.com. 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  17. ^ Virginian-Pilot (29 August 2006). "U.S. Government". Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on 2018-07-09. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  18. ^ "Nadia Schadlow". Schmidt Futures. Archived from the original on 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  19. ^ "Dr. Nadia Schadlow | Spirit of America". Archived from the original on 2019-04-11. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  20. ^ "Who We Are". SCSP. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
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