Joel Rubin

Joel Rubin is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and currently Adjunct Faculty at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy and Management in Washington DC. He's an elected local government official for the Town Council of Chevy Chase, MD. A seasoned practitioner of American foreign policy and politics, Joel leads the consultancy practice "Washington Strategy Group". Joel has nearly 20 years of federal experience in government, advocacy, and both Chambers of Congress. He has served at senior levels at the State Department and also ran for Congress, providing him with a unique skill set to help clients navigate the political dimensions of U.S. foreign policy. During Joel’s recent run for Congress in 2015 – 2016 in the historic Maryland-8 Democratic primary, he was described by the New York Times as having “serious foreign policy credentials.” He was also profiled in the Washington Post. Prior to running for Congress, from 2014 – 2015, Joel was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, where he directed the State Department’s work with the U.S. House of Representatives. He also testified to Congress’s House Select Committee on Benghazi as a government witness in January 2015. From 2008 – 2014, Joel was a leading advocate on national security and foreign policy issues at Ploughshares Fund and J Street, where he promoted American diplomacy to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis, to restrain nuclear proliferation, and to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Joel served as a senior aide in the U.S. Senate from 2006 – 2008. He joined Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) as a Brookings Institution Legislative Fellow and later joined Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) as his National Security Advisor. In 2008, Joel won the “Congressional Staffer of the Year” award from the Military Officers Association of America. Earlier, from 1999 – 2005, Joel was a career official at the State Department, Energy Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He won numerous awards, including the State Department’s Superior Honor award. During this time, he ran programs to promote solar energy deployment, economic reform in the Middle East, and support for the war on terrorism. He began his federal career as a Presidential Management Fellow. He also served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica as an environmental education volunteer. Joel has been a fixture in the national media on foreign policy, including frequent television appearances on MSNBC, CBS, Fox, BBC, and CNN. He also writes for Huffington Post, has published opinion pieces in Politico, Foreign Policy, and The Hill, and has been quoted by the Associated Press, Daily Beast, and Washington Post. Joel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Brandeis University and a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management with a Minor in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University. He lives with his wife, Nilmini Rubin, three daughters, and mother-in-law in Chevy Chase, Maryland.