Meghan L. O'Sullivan is a lecturer at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Prior to joining Harvard, Meghan was at the National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President, from July 2004 to September 2007, and held the position of Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan for her final two years there. In this capacity, she played a lead role in the policy review process that led to "the surge" strategy, which was an important factor in the improvement of the security situation in Iraq over 2007 and 2008. Before joining the NSC, Dr. O'Sullivan was deputy director of the governance section of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq from April 2003 to June 2004. From November 2001 to March 2003, she worked in Policy Planning at the State Department on the Northern Ireland peace process and advancing efforts to promote reform in the Muslim world.

 

From 1997 to 2001, Dr. O'Sullivan was a fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she published several books and articles on American foreign policy, including Shrewd Sanctions: Statecraft and State Sponsors of Terrorism (2003). She is a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and has been awarded the Defense Department’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service and several Superior Honor awards from the State Department. She was recently selected by Esquire magazine as one of the 75 most influential people of the century.

 

Meghan received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Oxford. She grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and graduated from Lexington High School.