Top Senate staffer joins Foreign Policy
Author and journalist Peter Scoblic started Monday as Foreign Policy‘s new executive editor, returning to journalism after a two-year stint on Capitol Hill, where he served most recently as deputy staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC). At FP, he’ll head up the magazine’s national security team as it continues to expand under ...
Author and journalist Peter Scoblic started Monday as Foreign Policy's new executive editor, returning to journalism after a two-year stint on Capitol Hill, where he served most recently as deputy staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC).
Author and journalist Peter Scoblic started Monday as Foreign Policy‘s new executive editor, returning to journalism after a two-year stint on Capitol Hill, where he served most recently as deputy staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC).
At FP, he’ll head up the magazine’s national security team as it continues to expand under the leadership of new CEO David Rothkopf, according to editor-in-chief Susan Glasser. "Susan came to me with a fantastic opportunity to rejoin the world of journalism," Scoblic told The Cable. "I enjoyed my time on Capitol Hill tremendously and learned a great amount, but this was an opportunity to return to doing something I loved at an institution that has become more and more influential over the last couple of years."
Scoblic, an expert on nuclear strategy, started in 2010 at the SFRC as a senior policy advisor working primarily on the ratification of New START, the Obama administration’s strategic arms treaty with Russia, before becoming the committee’s chief speechwriter and then its deputy staff director.
The months-long push to ratify New START, which passed the Senate in December 2010, was the highlight of his tenure, he said.
"That was a harder-fought battle than a lot of people expected, but we had a lot of good arguments," he said. "The eight days of floor debate we had on New START were actually representative of a deliberative democracy working the way it is supposed to work, which we haven’t always seen in the past two years."
Scoblic’s interest in arms control issues dates back to his time as the editor of Arms Control Today, published by the Arms Control Association. He then spent 7 years in various capacities at the New Republic, where he eventually became executive editor before heading to Congress, an experience he described as both "frustrating and enthralling."
He also wrote a well-regarded book on nuclear strategy, U.S. vs. Them: Conservatism in the Age of Nuclear Terror.
Scoblic lives in Washington with his wife Sacha, author of Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety, son Theo, and Norwich terrier Sci Fi.
"Peter was a top recruit for our Committee and he’s a top recruit now for the magazine. His subject matter knowledge of non-proliferation and his keen insight and writing skill will serve Foreign Policy well, just as they were invaluable to the Committee," Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) told The Cable in a statement. "He leaves us having really stepped up in the successful fight to shepherd the New START Treaty through the committee and the Senate. On issue after issue, he was a top flight member of the committee team, approaching all issues with great skill and sensitivity. Peter’s talents and dedication will ensure enormous success as he returns to his first passion, journalism and advocacy."
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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