List of Obama's Czars
August 21, 2009
As of July 20, 2009:
• The Brainroom counts 32 czars in the Obama
administration, based on media reports from
reputable sources that have identified the
official in question as a czar.
• In addition, President Obama has said that he
will create the position of cyber czar, and there
have been media reports that there could be a
health insurance czar and a copyright czar. When
and if those positions are filled, that would
bring the total to 35.
• Since czar isn't an official job title, the
number is somewhat in the eye of the beholder.
NOTE: positions that also existed under previous
administrations are indicated with an *.
1. Afghanistan Czar - Richard Holbrooke
Title: Special Representative for Afghanistan and
Pakistan
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Appointed: January 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
State
• Will work with CENTCOM head Gen. David
Petraeus to integrate U.S. civilian and military
efforts in the region.
• 45 years of experience have made him a fixture
of the Democrats' foreign policy establishment.
• Was U.S. ambassador to U.N., 1999-2001
• Brokered the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia
• Also served as Assistant secretary of state,
East Asia and the Pacific (1976 to 1980); worked
in foreign service (1962 to 1976)
• From 1972 through 1976, was the editor of
Foreign Policy magazine.
2. AIDS Czar * - Jeffrey Crowley
Title: Director of the Office of National AIDS
Policy
Salary: $102,000
Reports to: President Obama (as part of the
Executive Office of the President’s Domestic Policy
Council)
Appointed: February 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Health and Human Services
• Coordinates HIV/AIDS policy domestically and
internationally.
• Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown
University's Health Policy Institute and a Senior
Scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National and
Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law
Center.
• Was Deputy Executive Director for Programs at
the National Association of People with AIDS
• Has Master of Public Health from the Johns
Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public
Health
3. Auto Recovery Czar - Ed Montgomery
Title: Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and
Workers
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Larry Summers, the president's top
economic adviser, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis
Appointed: March 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Labor
• Will work to leverage government resources to
support the workers, communities and regions that
rely on the American auto industry.
• Was Deputy Secretary and Chief Economist at the
Labor Department (1997 to 1998)
• Is Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social
Sciences at the University of Maryland (2003 to
present)
• Has PhD in economics from Harvard
• In 2008, made $1,200 in political donations, all
of which went to Obama’s presidential campaign.
• Wife is the granddaughter of a General Motors
worker from Portland, Mich.
• Drives a 2000 Lincoln
4. Border Czar * - Alan Bersin
Title: Assistant Secretary for International
Affairs and Special Representative for Border
Affairs
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano
Appointed: April 2009
Agencies that might have handled similar issues:
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
• Will coordinate all of the department's
border security and law-enforcement efforts.
• Essentially had the same job under President
Clinton; served as Attorney General Janet Reno's
special representative on border issues, a job
that he held while retaining the position of U.S.
attorney for San Diego.
• This time, boss will be Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano, who will expect him to
handle illegal immigration and drug violence
issues along the Mexican-American border
• Previous experience: Chairman of the San Diego
Regional Airport Authority (2006 to 2009);
Secretary of Education for California (2005 to
2006); Superintendent of San Diego Public Schools
(1998 to 2005); U.S. Attorney for San Diego (1993
to 1998)
• Graduate of Harvard and Yale Law School
• Talking about border security shortly before he
was named Clinton border czar in 1995, said he
wanted to focus on suspected smugglers of both
drugs and people and was not interested in
prosecuting “economic migrants.”
• Often tied to the 1994 border policy called
“Operation Gatekeeper.” The policy shifted the
U.S. focus from the arresting of immigrants who
actually crossed the border to an increased border
presence designed to stop border crossing in the
first place. When Bersin left the position in
1998, border arrests were on pace for an 18-year
low of just more than 200,000. Latino groups
complained that Operation Gatekeeper was immoral,
saying the program monitored the border near San
Diego but simply forced illegal immigrants to
other, more dangerous areas.
• Has given more than $50,000 to political
campaigns since 1999, almost all of it to
Democrats.
5. California Water Czar - David J. Hayes
Title: Deputy Interior Secretary
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
Appointed: June 2009
Confirmed by Senate (as Deputy Interior Security):
May 20, 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Interior
• Charged with coordinating federal agencies to
ease California's water shortage
• Graduate of Stanford Law School; clerked for
U.S. District Court for the D.C., has been a
partner at two big D.C. law firms
• Was deputy interior secretary under Bruce
Babbitt during Clinton administration
• From 1993 to 1995, was chairman of the board at
the Environmental Law Institute, a non-profit
research center.
• As a lobbyist, represented the Southern
California Metropolitan Water District in 2001
• In August 2008, wrote a policy report while
working at the Progressive Policy Institute
accusing the Bush administration of leaving a
“damaging legacy” in their natural resource
management policies
• Donated $2,300 to Clinton during 2008 campaign;
after she withdrew, donated $2,300 to Obama
6. Car Czar - Ron Bloom
NOTE: on July 13, 2009, Bloom took over as head of
the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry,
replacing Steven Rattner
Title: Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and
National Economic Council head Larry Summers
Appointed: July 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Treasury
• A leader of the White House task force
overseeing auto company bailouts; worked on
restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler LLC.
• Was special assistant to president of the United
Steelworkers union from 1996-Feb 2009
• Has negotiated restructuring deals for more than
50 companies, getting major concessions from
unions and companies.
• Was raised in New York in a pro-union family,
which included a schoolteacher mother and
unionized relatives.
• After working for the Service Employees
International Union, got an MBA from Harvard
University because he thought unions lacked
business smarts, he said in a 1996 interview in
the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• From 1985 to 1990, he worked as an investment
banker with Lazard Freres & Co., which specializes
in mergers, acquisitions and corporate
restructuring, before co-founding the
investment-banking firm Keilin and Bloom.
7. Central Region Czar - Dennis Ross
Title: Special Assistant to the President and Senior
Director for the Central Region (encompasses the
Middle East, the Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan and
South Asia)
Salary: unknown
Reports to: National Security Adviser Gen. James L.
Jones
Appointed: June 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
State
• Spent 12 years in the George H.W. Bush and
Clinton administrations trying to create a
permanent agreement between the governments of
Israel and the Palestinian territories
• In 1981, was named to President Ronald Reagan’s
national security staff as the director of Near
East and South Asian Affairs.
• Was director of the State Department’s Policy
Planning office during President George H. W.
Bush’s term.
• 1993: appointed to the position of Middle East
coordinator, making him the top negotiator for
peace between Israel and Palestinian territories
• After he left government in 2000, headed up
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a
hawkish think tank with a pro-Israeli bent
8. Climate Czar - Todd Stern
Title: Special Envoy for Climate Change
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Appointed: January 2009
Agency or department that might have handled similar
issues: Environmental Protection Agency; State
• Responsible for developing international
approaches to reduce the emission of greenhouse
gases.
• Served in the Clinton White House from 1993 to
1999; Was Head of the Initiative on Global Climate
Change (1997 to 1999) and Adviser to the Secretary
of the Treasury (1999 to 2001)
• As a top aide to President Clinton, helped
negotiate the Kyoto and Buenos Aires climate
pacts, both of which fell apart partially because
of a lack of U.S. support during Bush
administration.
• After Bush was elected to office, went to the
Wilmer Hale law firm, where he is a partner in the
regulatory and government affairs division.
• Was most recently a Senior Fellow at the Center
for American Progress, where he focused on climate
change and environmental issues.
• Has written extensively on climate change, and
has called on the American government and the
international community to take a series of steps
to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
• Supports a national cap-and-trade system that
would limit carbon emissions and reduce U.S.
dependency on foreign oil
• Has law degree from Harvard
9. Domestic Violence Czar - Lynn Rosenthal
Title: White House adviser on Violence Against Women
Salary: unknown
Reports to: President Obama and Vice President Biden
Appointed: June 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Health and Human Services
• Will advise the President and Vice President
on domestic violence and sexual assault issues.
• 2000-2006: served as the Executive Director of
the National Network to End Domestic Violence
• Was an advocate for the reauthorization of the
Violence Against Women Act in 2000 and 2005 and
has assisted states and local communities with
implementation of this federal legislation
• Was director of the Florida Coalition Against
Domestic Violence
10. Drug Czar * - Gil Kerlikowske
Title: Director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy
Salary: unknown
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: March 2009
Confirmed by Senate: May 7, 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Justice
• Directs drug-control policy in the U.S.; is
expected to shift drug policy to intervention,
treatment and a reduction of problem drug use.
• Was police chief for the city of Seattle from
2000-2009
• Was Deputy Director of the Department of
Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services (1998 to 2000); Police Chief for the city
of Buffalo (1994 to 1998); Police chief of Fort
Pierce, Fla. (N/A to 1994)
• A strong gun-control advocate, urged both the
Washington legislature and the U.S. Congress to
pass an assault-weapons ban and has worked to
close the loophole that doesn't require background
checks at gun shows
• 2003: admitted that busting people for personal
marijuana possession was not a top priority of the
Seattle police department.
• As Seattle police chief, assigned an officer
full-time to the drug court, which commuted
sentences of drug users who complete medical
treatment in lieu of going to jail.
11. Economic Czar * - Paul Volcker
Title: Chairman of the President's Economic Recovery
Advisory Board
Salary: Volcker reportedly isn't paid for his
advice.
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: January 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Treasury
• Charged with offering independent,
nonpartisan information, analysis, and advice to
the President as he formulates and implements his
plans for economic recovery.
• Some reports say he's been marginalized by Larry
Summers.
• Former Federal Reserve chairman (1979-1987)
• Was Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs,
Department of the Treasury (1969 to 1974); Deputy
Undersecretary for Monetary Affairs, Department of
the Treasury (1963 to 1965)
• Gave Obama campaign $2,300 in 2008.
12. Energy and Environment Czar - Carol
Browner
Title: Assistant to the President for Energy and
Climate Change
Salary: $172,200
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: January 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: EPA
• Coordinates energy and climate policy,
emphasizing regulation and conservation.
• Was Environmental Protection Agency
administrator in the Clinton administration
(1993-2000)
• Was Florida Secretary of the Environment (1991
to 1993)
• Founded and continues to serve as a principal of
The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm led
by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Also a principal of Albright Capital Management,
an investment advisory firm that concentrates on
emerging markets.
• Worked on the Socialist International's
Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which
argues that the global community must work
collectively to address environmental policies
• Described Bush administration as the "worst
environmental administration ever"
• While orchestrating private discussions between
the White House and auto industry officials on
vehicle fuel efficiency standards, kept the talks
as quiet as possible. Mary Nichols, the head of
the California Air Resources Board, said, "We put
nothing in writing, ever."
• 2003: A federal judge held the Environmental
Protection Agency in contempt for destroying
computer files during the Clinton administration
that had been sought by a conservative legal
foundation. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth
also ordered the EPA to pay the Landmark Legal
Foundation's legal fees and costs because the
agency disobeyed his order to preserve the
electronic records of Browner, the former EPA
chief.
13. Faith-Based Czar * - Joshua DuBois
Title: Director of the Office of Faith Based and
Neighborhood Partnerships
Salary: $98,000
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: February 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Health and Human Services
• Acts as a liaison between faith and secular
community groups and the White House, often
partnering with them to tackle social issues.
Helps these groups apply for federal grants
available to them.
• Is 26 years old
• Has master’s in public affairs from Princeton
University; served as associate pastor
• Worked for Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) as an intern
and then as a fellow for Rep. Charles B. Rangel
(DN. Y.).
• Hired as a legislative correspondent in Obama’s
Senate office in May 2005
• In 2008, at the age of 25, was appointed
director of religious affairs for the Obama
campaign.
14. Government Performance Czar - Jeffrey
Zients
Title: Chief Performance Officer
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Office of Management and Budget Director
Peter Orzag
Appointed: April 2009
Confirmed by the Senate (as deputy director for
management for the OMB): June 19, 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: OMB
• Charged with cutting costs and finding best
practices throughout government.
• Has never worked in government before
• Was a chief executive and former management
consultant
• Was founder of Portfolio Logic (2004 to
present); Partner of the Washington Baseball Club
(2004 to 2006); CEO of the Advisory Board (1998 to
2004)
• Has donated just over $90,000 to political
campaigns since 1999, almost all of which went to
Democratic candidates
15. Great Lakes Czar - Cameron Davis
Title: Special advisor to the U.S. EPA overseeing
its Great Lakes restoration plan
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Lisa Jackson
Appointed: June 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues:
Environmental Protection Agency
• Oversees the administration's initiative to
restore the Great Lakes' environment.
• President of the Chicago-based environmentalist
group Alliance for the Great Lakes
• Was a litigating attorney and served as an
adjunct clinical assistant professor of law at the
University of Michigan Law School.
• Served with the United Nations Environment
Program in Nairobi, Kenya, where he worked on the
Montreal Protocol to protect the Earth’s ozone
layer, and U.S. EPA’s Office of Regional Counsel
in Chicago.
16. Green Jobs Czar - Van Jones
Title: Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise
and Innovation at the White House Council on
Environmental Quality
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Head of Council on Environmental Quality
Nancy Sutley
Appointed: March 2009
Agency or department that might have handled similar
issues: Environmental Protection Agency; Labor
• Will focus on environmentally-friendly
employment within the administration and boost
support for the idea nationwide
• Rose from near obscurity in the Oakland, Calif.,
grassroots organizing scene to the leader of a
national movement to spur the green economy.
• Founded Green For All, an organization focused
on creating green jobs in impoverished areas
• Also co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for
Human Rights and Color of Change, which includes
Bay Area PoliceWatch, a group devoted to
"protect[ing] the community from police
misconduct"
• Published New York Times best-seller The Green
Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two
Biggest Problems, in October 2008
• Started career as a prison-reform advocate in
Oakland, Calif., lobbying for reform of the
juvenile justice system and youth-violence
prevention programs
• Has law degree from Yale
• 2007: worked on the Green Jobs Act with
then-Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), who co-sponsored
the bill in the House
• 1993: was arrested at the Los Angeles riots that
followed the acquittal of cops in the Rodney King
beating. "I was arrested simply for being a police
observer," says Jones, who had just graduated from
Yale Law School and was working with the Lawyer's
Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco.
• 1999: was arrested in the 1999 Seattle protests
against the World Trade Organization
• Excerpt from a Nov. 2005 interview in the East
Bay Express:
Jones had planned to move to Washington, DC, and
had already landed a job and an apartment there.
But in jail, he said, "I met all these young
radical people of color -- I mean really radical,
communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This
is what I need to be a part of.'" Although he
already had a plane ticket, he decided to stay in
San Francisco. "I spent the next ten years of my
life working with a lot of those people I met in
jail, trying to be a revolutionary." In the months
that followed, he let go of any lingering thoughts
that he might fit in with the status quo. "I was a
rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the
verdicts came down on April 29th," he said. "By
August, I was a communist." In 1994, the young
activists formed a socialist collective, Standing
Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, or
STORM, which held study groups on the theories of
Marx and Lenin and dreamed of a multiracial
socialist utopia. They protested police brutality
and got arrested for crashing through police
barricades. In 1996, Jones decided to launch his
own operation, which he named the Ella Baker
Center after an unsung hero of the civil-rights
movement.
17. Guantanamo Closure Czar - Daniel Fried
Title: Special envoy to oversee the closure of the
detention center at Guantanamo Bay
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton
Appointed: March 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Justice; State
• Works to get help of foreign governments in
moving toward closure of Guantanamo Bay, in
fulfillment of Obama's promise to close the prison
within a year of taking office.
• Was Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and
Eurasian Affairs, State Department (2005 to 2009);
Director for European and Eurasian Affairs, State
Department (2001 to 2005); U.S. Ambassador to
Poland (1997 to 2001)
18. Health Czar * - Nancy-Ann DeParle
Title: Counselor to the President and Director of
the White House Office of Health Reform
Salary: $158,500
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: March 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Health and Human Services (HHS)
• Coordinates the development of the
Administration's healthcare policy agenda.
• Experience: Managing Director, CCMP Capital
(since 2001); Adjunct professor (focusing on
healthcare policy), Wharton School of Business
(since 2001); Commissioner, Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission (since 2001); Fellow, Harvard
Institue of Politics (2000 to 2001); Director,
Healthcare Financing Administration (1997 to 2000)
• Has law degree from Harvard
• Served as the OMB’s representative on
health-care reform during Bill Clinton’s first
term
• As head of the HHS Health Care Financing
Administration under Clinton, ran the largest
health insurance provider in America, overseeing
$600 billion in payments annually to 74 million
recipients of Medicare and Medicaid
• 2001: left government to take a year-long
fellowship at Harvard’s Institute of Politics,
where she was part of Harvard’s Health Care Policy
Forum and led a weekly study group on reforming
Medicare.
• During Bush administration, sat on the boards of
many health companies, from medical treatment
producers to hospital systems
• In September 2008, donated $2,300 each to
Clinton and Barack Obama.
19. Information Czar - Vivek Kundra
Title: Federal Chief Information Officer
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Director of the Office of Management and
Budget Peter Orszag
Appointed: March 2009
Agencies that might have handled similar issues:
other federal agency CIOs
• Basically in charge of overseeing other
federal agency CIOs and for setting technology
policy across the government.
• Head of a federal technology budget that amounts
to $71 billion annually
• Operation is housed in the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) and will likely have authority to
question how money in departmental technology
budgets is used
• Formerly head of the District of Columbia's
technology operations
• Shortly after he joined the OMB, federal
authorities raided his old District government
office. They arrested two technology office
managers and a subcontractor, charging them with a
bribery scheme that allegedly defrauded the city
out of at least $500,000. Kundra was not a suspect
in the case, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
• Has a masters from Maryland in information
technology.
• Experience: Washington, D.C. Chief Technology
Officer (2007 to 2009); State of Virginia's
Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Trade (2006 to
2007); CEO of computer security firm Creostar
20. Intelligence Czar * - Dennis Blair
Title: Director of National Intelligence
Salary: $197,700
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: January 2009
Confirmed by Senate: January 28, 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: CIA
• Nation’s top intelligence official.
• Retired four-star admiral.
• Graduate of the United States Naval Academy,
1968; sixth-generation naval officer
• Lacks professional roots in the world of
intelligence
• Held a number of prestigious Washington posts,
including the Pentagon’s top liaison to the CIA
and director of the Joint Staff.
• Ran the non-profit Institute for Defense
Analyses (IDA), which focuses primarily on issues
related to national security, and does a lot of
work for the Defense Department. Left IDA under a
cloud of controversy in mid-2006.
21. Mideast Peace Czar - George Mitchell
Title: Special Envoy for Middle East Peace
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton
Appointed: January 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
State
• Works to maintain the shaky peace between
Israel and Hamas after recent hostilities
• Senate majority leader from 1989 to 1994
• Was special envoy to Northern Ireland during the
Clinton administration and lead investigator into
steroid use in Major League Baseball.
• 2000: led a fact-finding committee to study
violence in the Middle East; 2001's Mitchell
Report formed the basis for the road map for
Middle East peace
22. Pay Czar - Kenneth R. Feinberg
Title: Special Master on executive pay
Salary: reportedly receiving no compensation for his
work.
Reports to: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
Appointed: June 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Treasury
• Named to examine compensation practices at
companies that have been bailed out more than once
by the federal government
• Oversaw the payouts to the families of the
victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
• Was the chief administrator to the Hokie Spirit
Memorial Fund, which commemorates the students who
died in the April 2007 shooting rampage at
Virginia Tech
• Founder and managing partner of Feinberg Rozen
LLP (1992 to present), law firm specializing in
mediation
• Was Chief of staff for Sen. Edward Kennedy (1978
to 1980)
• While working with the Feinberg Group, donated
over $150,000, nearly all of which has gone to
Democratic candidates and political action
committees. In 2007, donated $2,300 to 2008
presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani (R).
23. Regulatory Czar - Cass R. Sunstein *
Title: Administrator of the White House Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Office of Management and Budget head
Peter Orszag
Appointed: January 2009
Nomination was sent to Senate on April 20, 2009 - no
action yet taken
Agency that might have handled similar issues: OMB
• Will be responsible for reviewing draft
regulations and assessing their costs and benefits
• Is a Harvard Law School professor; prior to
that, was a professor at the Univ. of Chicago Law
School (1981-2008)
• Academic specialties: constitutional law,
administrative law, and regulatory policy
• Obama: "Cass is not only a valued advisor, he is
a dear friend"
• Known for advancing a field called "law and
behavioral economics" that seeks to shape law and
policy around the way research shows people
actually behave; though embraced by conservatives,
critics say it fails to account for the sometimes
less-than-rational aspects of human behavior.
• In his 2002 book, Republic.com, discussed the
drawbacks of limitless choices on the Internet
that allow people to seek out only like-minded
people and opinions that merely fortify their own
views; he talked about the idea of the government
requiring sites to link to opposing views. He
later came to realize it was a "bad idea."
• In his 2004 book, Animal Rights, suggested that
animals ought to be able to bring suit, with
private citizens acting as their representatives,
to ensure that animals are not treated in a way
that violates current law.
• In a 2007 speech at Harvard he called for
banning hunting in the U.S.
• The American Conservative Union started a
website, Stop Sunstein, in an effort to keep him
out of the White House.
24. Science Czar - John Holdren
Title: Assistant to the President for Science and
Technology, Director of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the
President’s Council of Advisers on Science and
Technology
Salary: unknown
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: December 2008
Confirmed by Senate: March 19, 2009
Agency or department that might have handled similar
issues: Energy
• Top adviser to Obama on science and
technology, issues that are increasingly relevant
to other issues such as homeland security, energy
and environmentalism
• Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental
Policy and Director, Program in Science,
Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard
University’s Kennedy School of Government
(1996-2009); Harvard University Professor of
Environmental Science and Public Policy
(1996-2009); University of California, Berkeley
Professor of Energy and Resources Emeritus (1996
to present)
• Studied aerospace engineering and plasma physics
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology —
where he earned his BS and MS — and Stanford
University, where he received his doctorate in
1970
• Is an outspoken advocate of the need to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and believes the United
States should sign the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test-Ban Treaty.
• In a 2008 New York Times op-ed, Holdren called
climate change skeptics “dangerous” members of a
“denier fringe.”
• In 1971, co-authored a paper in Global Ecology
suggesting "some form of ecocatastrophe, if not
thermonuclear war, seems almost certain to
overtake us before the end of the century."
• Some conservative media outlets have called
attention to a book Holdren co-authored in 1977
titled Ecoscience: Population, Resources, and
Environment. The book reportedly includes this
statement: "population-control laws, even
including laws requiring compulsory abortion,
could be sustained under the existing
Constitution." Holdren's office says he "does not
now and never has been an advocate of compulsory
abortions or other repressive measures to limit
fertility."
25. Stimulus Accountability Czar - Earl
Devaney
Title: Chair of the Recovery Act Transparency and
Accountability Board
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Vice President Biden
Appointed: February 2009
Agency that might have handled similar issues: OMB
• Leads oversight board that monitors money
spent by the stimulus package
• Experience: Inspector General at the Interior
Department (1999 to present); Director of criminal
enforcement at the Environmental Protection Agency
(1991 to 1999); Special Agent at the Secret
Service (1970 to 1991)
• During his tenure at Interior, uncovered the
shady dealings of disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack
Abramoff, an investigation that eventually led to
Abramoff's imprisonment and the resignation of
Interior's no. 2, J. Steven Griles, for lying
under oath about his own role in the scandal.
• On July 8, 2009, the U.S. General Services
Administration issued a press release announcing
an $18 million contract for a new recovery.gov web
site, which quoted Devaney as saying, “We are
pleased that another major milestone has been
achieved."
26. Sudan Czar - J. Scott Gration
Title: Special Envoy to Sudan
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Appointed: March 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
State
• Will coordinate U.S. role in the aftermath of
the genocide in Darfur
• Experience: Supreme Allied Command, NATO (2004
to 2005); Air Force assistant deputy
undersecretary for international affairs (2003 to
2004)
• Commanded all air operations during the Iraq war
in 2003
• 2006: left Air Force position to join Obama’s
staff after traveling to Africa with the
then-Senator from Illinois, even though he was a
Republican
• Has won a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a Defense
Superior Service Medal and 16 other awards
• Is a fluent Swahili speaker who grew up in the
Congo
• Has called on the Obama administration to
incentivize participation by the Sudanese
government in peace talks by lifting sanctions, a
position that is controversial. Also worked to
position himself as the principal negotiator
between the Sudanese government and its
adversaries in Darfur, and is planning an
international conference for September 2009
• Has M.A. in security studies from Georgetown
27. TARP Czar - Herb Allison
Title: Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for
Financial Stability
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
Appointed: June 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Treasury
• Leads the government's $700 billion financial
rescue program in the office of financial
stability
• Veteran Wall Street banker and interim head of
the mortgage-finance company Fannie Mae
• Worked at Merrill Lynch for 28 years, reaching
position of president and COO
• Was CEO of Teachers Insurance and Annuity
Association College Retirement Equities Fund (2002
to 2008); CEO of the Alliance for Lifelong
Learning (2000 to 2002)
• Has undergraduate degree from Yale and MBA from
Stanford
• 2000: was John McCain’s 2000 presidential
campaign finance chairman
• In 2008, donated $2,300 to Obama's presidential
campaign
28. Technology Czar - Aneesh Chopra
Title: Chief Technology Officer
Salary: unknown
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: April 2009
Confirmed by Senate: May 21, 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Commerce
• Will lead in the effort to eliminate wasteful
government programs
• Will probably work to increase broadband access
nationwide and computerize medical records
• Was Virginia’s secretary of technology
(2005-2009)
• Has degree in public health from Johns Hopkins,
Master's from Harvard in public policy
• Worked at Morgan Stanley as investment banker;
also worked at Advisory Board, a health-care
research and consultancy firm
• Has donated more than $24,000 since 1997 to
various campaigns. With the exception of a $1,000
donation to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) in
2004, all of Chopra’s contributions have gone to
Democrats. From 2007 to 2008, Chopra donated
$2,750 to Obama’s presidential campaign.
29. Terrorism Czar - John Brennan
Title: Assistant to the President for Homeland
Security and Counterterrorism
Salary: $172,200
Reports to: National Security Adviser James L. Jones
Appointed: January 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Homeland Security
• Under Obama's plan the homeland security
adviser’s office would be eliminated, and the
National Security Council would take over those
duties. Brennan would be responsible for guarding
against natural disasters and terrorism.
• Has called for increased integration between the
Departments of Commerce, State and Defense
• Graduated from Fordham University in 1977 after
a year of intensive Arabic and Middle Eastern
studies in Cairo. Earned his J.D. from the
University of Texas at Austin before joining the
CIA as an intelligence director in 1980.
• Is a CIA veteran and fluent Arabic speaker
• Was CIA deputy executive director (2001 to 2003)
and National Counter-Terrorism Center, Chair (2004
to 2005)
• Worked at Analysis Corp, (2005 to 2008);
• Staunch supporter of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Program; defended the use of
extraordinary rendition, saying it is “an
absolutely vital tool.”
30. Urban Affairs Czar - Adolfo Carrion Jr.
Title: White House Director of Urban Affairs
Salary: $158,500
Reports to: President Obama
Appointed: February 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Housing and Urban Development
• Job entails coordinating transportation and
housing initiatives, as well as serving as a
conduit for federal aid to economically hard-hit
cities.
• Has undergraduate degree in world religions from
Kings College; became an associate pastor at a
Bronx church; earned his master’s degree in urban
planning from Hunter College
• Was Bronx Borough President (2001-2009);
President of the National Association of Latino
Elected Officials (since 2007); City Council
member (1998 to 2000)
• Many reporters say he has higher ambitions and
will probably run for New York City mayor in the
next ten years.
• Was an active campaigner for Obama, travelling
across the country to speak on his behalf. He
focused particularly on states with large Hispanic
populations.
• The NY Daily News reported numerous developers
made tens of thousands of dollars in campaign
donations to Carrión around the same time he was
considering approving their projects in the Bronx.
31. Weapons Czar - Ashton Carter
Title: Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,
Technology, and Logistics
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Defense Secretary Robert Gates
Appointed: April 2009
Confirmed by Senate: April 23, 2009
Department that might have handled similar issues:
Defense
• Will coordinate the Pentagon's acquisitions,
technology and logistics for weapons.
• Will oversee a weapons-buying system that Obama
has placed at the top of his list of federal
programs he wants to fix and will be asked to
quickly weigh in on difficult decisions concerning
at least 10 major defense programs, while also
instantly dissecting the procurement system’s
ailments so he can advise the administration on
its Pentagon acquisition reform agenda
• Is a physicist and Harvard academic whose only
previous Pentagon stint was in a mid-level policy
post from 1993 until 1996 under the Clinton
administration
• Graduated from Yale summa cum laude; studied at
Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar and earned a
doctorate in theoretical physics.
• Chair of Harvard’s International Relations,
Science & Security Area International Security
Program within the Belfer Center for Science and
International Affairs; Assistant Secretary of
Defense for International Security Policy (1993 to
1996); Director of the Center for Science and
International Affairs at Harvard University’s
Kennedy School (early 1990s)
• Has donated primarily to Democratic politicians
since 2000. He donated $6,900 to then-Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in 2007 and 2008. He gave
the same amount to then Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
during that same span.
32. WMD Policy Czar - Gary Samore
Title: White House Coordinator for Weapons of Mass
Destruction, Security and Arms Control
Salary: unknown
Reports to: National Security Advisor Gen. James L.
Jones
Appointed: January 2009
Department or agency that might have handled similar
issues: NSC; Defense; State
• Will coordinate issues related to weapons of
mass destruction across the government. His
portfolio includes proliferation, nuclear and
conventional arms control, threat reduction, and
terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction.
• Position sits within the National Security
Council.
• Is a veteran arms control negotiator.
• B.A. in sociology from the State University of
New York at Stony Brook and his PhD in government
from Harvard University in 1984.
• After brief stints with the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory and the RAND Corporation,
joined the State Department during the Reagan
administration in 1987. Held several positions
there, including director of the Office of
Regional Non-proliferation Affairs; special
assistant to the Ambassador-at-Large for
Non-proliferation and Nuclear Energy Policy; and
deputy to Ambassador-at-Large for Korean Affairs
Robert Gallucci. Helped to negotiate the 1994
U.S.-North Korea Framework Treaty
• Joined the Clinton administration’s National
Security Council in 1995 as an adviser on
nonproliferation. Coordinated U.S. policy on
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
• Was Director, Council on Foreign Relations (2006
to 2009); Vice President for Global Security and
Sustainability, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation (2005); Researcher, International
Institute of Strategic Studies (2001 to 2005)
