Jarrett Blanc

Jarrett Blanc was a senior fellow in the Geoeconomics and Strategy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has also previously served as the deputy lead coordinator and State Department coordinator for Iran nuclear implementation at the U.S. Department of State under President Obama, responsible for the full and effective implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program, including Iranian and U.S. commitments on sanctions.

Prior to this position, he was the principal deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) and acting SRAP. In this position, he played a key role in developing and implementing the international security assistance plan for Afghanistan, mediating the Afghan electoral process, leading efforts to spark an Afghan-led peace process, securing the negotiated release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, and unwinding more than a decade of U.S. detention operations in Afghanistan. He led the establishment of two multilateral bodies—the International Contact Group and the Istanbul Process—which are now models for international crisis coordination. He oversaw the management and administrative support of two of the largest, most insecure, and most dependent U.S. embassies in the world as well as their consulates. During his government service, Blanc twice received the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award and received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, its highest civilian honor.

Before joining the State Department in 2009, Blanc spent many years working for international organizations and NGOs advising senior decision-makers on conflict termination and political transitions. He managed the first elections in Iraq and other complex infrastructure and governance operations in conflict and post-conflict areas such as Afghanistan, Kosovo, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, and Nepal. These positions oversaw complex bureaucratic organizations, some including thousands of employees and offices around the world.

Blanc has been a Council on Foreign Relations international affairs fellow, a visiting scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a senior policy analyst at the Open Society Institute, and an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and the George Washington University. He is formerly a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Blanc has published a number of articles and book chapters and has lectured at Harvard, Princeton, West Point, Annapolis, and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.

Blanc holds an A.B. from Harvard University and an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University.