Experts

Mara Rudman

Fast Facts

  • Served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, including as deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs
  • Former director, Ripples of Hope Project
  • Former deputy envoy and chief of staff for the Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, U.S. Department of State
  • Expertise in foreign affairs, diplomacy, national security, the Middle East

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • War and Terrorism
  • Middle East
  • Governance
  • The Presidency

Mara Rudman is a practitioner senior fellow at the Miller Center, where she formerly directed the Ripples of Hope Project aimed at identifying practical approaches to help democratic leaders resolve key challenges. She previously served a term as a Miller Center Schlesinger Distinguished Professor.

Rudman served on the 2022 National Defense Strategy Commission. She is a member of the Board of Visitors for the Howard University College of Arts and Sciences. She also consults for Democracy Forward. 

Rudman’s government positions have included serving as deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs in the Obama and Clinton administrations; deputy envoy for the Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace at the U.S. Department of State; assistant administrator for the Middle East at the U.S. Agency for International Development; and chief counsel to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  

Previously, Rudman was executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and senior vice president for policy/projects at Business Executives for National Security. She also led Quorum Strategies, a geopolitical strategic advisory firm. Rudman has been a guest on numerous TV and radio shows and has written for and been quoted in various print publications. She received her BA from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

Mara Rudman News Feed

Dramatic changes in the world make it important for America to rethink and reconfigure its grand strategy. The changes include an ongoing technological revolution, the arrival of China as a peer competitor, Russia’s violent assertiveness in Eastern Europe, the reformation of traditional alliance relationships, U.S. intervention in Venezuela, recent U.S. and Israeli actions in Iran and a widening conflict in the Middle East, and, not least, America’s own rebellion against the international order that it has sustained for 80 years. As the United States enters another presidential election cycle, Americans are debating how best to sustain U.S. power, influence, and economic vitality, as well as our relationships with allies around the world.
William Antholis, Alexander Bick, Ashley Deeks, Jeffrey Legro, John Owen, Philip Potter, and Mara Rudman Miller Center Presents
Mara Rudman discusses U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Mara Rudman Bloomberg Asia
Mara Rudman discusses U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Mara Rudman CNN
Mara Rudman discusses the Iran War.
Mara Rudman BBC News
To celebrate the launch of the Miller Center’s Barack Obama Oral History Project, discussions with senior Obama administration officials over two days address the main issues, events, crises, and political environment of the Obama era and the 44th presidency.
Mara Rudman Miller Center Presents
US State Department Former Envoy Mara Rudman tells Kailey Leinz that the US and Israel need to consider that although Iran has been degraded, the regime is still "skilled at fighting asymmetrically"
Mara Rudman Bloomberg TV