Former top State Dept official joins Clinton campaign-in-waiting
A former congresswoman and top State Department official has signed on to the political action committee preparing for Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 presidential race, should the former secretary of state decide to run. Ellen Tauscher served as Clinton’s undersecretary of state for arms control and international security from 2009 until January 2012, when she stepped down ...
A former congresswoman and top State Department official has signed on to the political action committee preparing for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential race, should the former secretary of state decide to run.
A former congresswoman and top State Department official has signed on to the political action committee preparing for Hillary Clinton‘s 2016 presidential race, should the former secretary of state decide to run.
Ellen Tauscher served as Clinton’s undersecretary of state for arms control and international security from 2009 until January 2012, when she stepped down following a successful battle with esophageal cancer. Before joining the Clinton State Department, Tauscher represented California’s 10th district in the U.S. Congress for 12 years. She would be well positioned to take on a major national security role in a potential Clinton campaign or presidency.
On Wednesday, Tauscher announced her support for “Ready for Hillary” the Super PAC that held its first public rally in Washington last week. Tauscher is advising the PAC and will begin writing to its supporters.
“Having worked with Hillary in Congress, and having served with her at the State Department, I know that she would make a fantastic president,” Tauscher said. “I hope she runs and will work my heart out for her if she does, but Hillary supporters like me shouldn’t just cross their fingers; we should show our support and get organized for 2016. This is the incredibly important work that Ready for Hillary is doing, and I’m glad to be a part of the effort.”
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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