Obama Officials Flee to Think Tanks

The revolving door of Washington is alive and well.

Now that President Obama has been in office nearly four years, there has been plenty of time for Obama Administration officials to step down and head to local think tanks for some reflection time.

Following is a look at what some former Obama officials are up to in the think tank world:

• Peter Orszag, who was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  He is also a Member of the Board of the Peterson Institute of International Economics (PIIE).
• Neera Tanden, former Senior Advisor for Health Reform at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Counselor to the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF). 
• Ezekiel Emanuel, former Special Advisor for Health Policy to Peter Orszag, is a Senior Fellow at CAP.  He is the brother of former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
• Larry Summers, who was director of the National Economic Council (NEC), is a Member of the Board of PIIE.  He is also a Senior Distinguished Fellow at CAP.
• Ben Scott, former Policy Advisor for Innovation to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is joining the New America Foundation's (NAF) Open Technology Institute (OTI) as a Senior Advisor.
• Bob Butler, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, has joined the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) as a Nonresident Senior Fellow.
• Jon Huntsman, former US Ambassador to China, joined the Brookings Institution as a Distinguished Fellow.
• Dennis Ross, former Special Advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has re-joined the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) as a Counselor.
• Matthew Goodman, former National Security Council (NSC) Director for International Economic Affairs, is now the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
• Nicole Goldin, former Senior Adviser for Policy at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is joining CSIS to lead its new initiative on global youth wellness.
• Anne-Marie Slaughter, former Director of Policy Planning at the State Department, rejoined the Board of Directors at the New America Foundation (NAF); also a Director of the International Advisory Board at the Atlantic Council of the United States (ACUS).
• Jim Jones, former National Security Advisor, rejoined the CSIS Board of Trustees.  He is also a Director at ACUS.
• Phillip Carter, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at CNAS.
• Colin Kahl, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, is now a Senior Fellow at CNAS. 
• Jeffrey Bader, former Senior Director for East Asian Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), is now the John C. Whitehead Senior Fellow in International Diplomacy at the Brookings Institution. 
• Nancy Ann DeParle, Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House, will become a Guest Scholar in Economic Studies at Brookings Institution.
• Tamara Cofman Wittes, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, rejoined Brookings as the Director of its Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
• Richard Verma, former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs, is a Senior Fellow at CAP and on the Board at CNAS.
• Michael Bromwich, former Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) for the Department of the Interior, joined CSIS as a Nonresident Senior Advisor. 
• Donald Berwick, former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is a Senior Fellow at CAP.  
• Carol Browner, former Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, is now a Senior Fellow at CAP. 
• Ron Bloom, former Assistant to the President for Manufacturing Policy, is now a Fellow at CAP.
• Jim Steinberg, former Deputy Secretary of State, is a Director on the International Advisory Board at ACUS.  He used to worked at Brookings and was a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation.
• George Mitchell, former Special Envoy for the Middle East under President Obama, is a founder at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC). 
• Michele Flournoy, former Undersecretary for Defense Policy, is on the Board of Directors at CNAS.
• William Daley, former Chief of Staff to President Obama, is a member of the Board of Trustees at Third Way. 
• Ronald Klain, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Joe Biden, is  a member of the Board of Trustees at Third Way. 
• Ellen Tauscher, former Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and Security, is a Co-Chair at Third Way, as well as the Vice Chair of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at Atlantic Council.
• James Schoff, former Senior Advisor for East Asia Policy at the Department of Defense, is now a Senior Associate at CEIP specializing in Japan.  He was formerly the Director of Asia Pacific Studies at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA).
• Cathleen Kelly, former Deputy Associate Director for Climate Change Adaptation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), is the Director of the Climate & Energy Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMFUS). 
• S. Enders Wimbush, former Governor of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, is a Senior Director for Foreign Policy and Civil Society at GMFUS.  He was also the Senior Vice President of the Hudson Institute.
• Shawn Brimley, former Director of Strategic Planning at the National Security Council (NSC), is now a Senior Fellow at CNAS. 
• Jared Bernstein, former Chief Economist and Economic Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, is now a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).  He was formerly a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
• Richard Kogan, former Senior Advisor at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is now a Senior Fellow at CBPP. 
• Barbara Sard, former Senior Advisor on Rental Assistance to Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, is now Vice President for Housing Policy at CBPP. 
• Sharon Parrott, former Counselor for Human Services Policy at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is now Vice President for Budget Policy and Economic Opportunity at CBPP.
• John Bryson, former Commerce Secretary, is now a Distinguished Senior Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center. 
• Shawn Brimley, former Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council (NSC) staff, is now a Senior Fellow at CNAS.  He will soon become Vice President and Director of Studies at CNAS. 
• Gary Samore, Special Assistant to the President and White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation, and Terrorism, is leaving to become the Executive Director of Harvard's Belfer Center. 
• Timothy Geithner, former Treasury Secretary, has joined CFR as a Distinguished Fellow.
• Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has left to become the Chairman of the Board at CNAS; in August 2013 he was named as Distinguished International Fellow of the Lowy Institute.
• Carmel Martin, Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development at the Department of Education, has joined CAP as Executive Vice President for Policy. 
• David Bergeron, Acting Assistant Secretary of Postsecondary Education and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Policy, Planning, and Innovation at the Department of Education, has joined CAP as Vice President for Higher Education. 
• Robert Gordon, Acting OMB Deputy Director, has joined the Brookings Institution. 
• Amy Hawthorne, a former State Department official, is now a Senior Fellow with the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council (ACUS). 
• Princeton Lyman, former Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, has joined USIP as a Senior Advisor. 
• Robert Einhorn, the State Department's Special Advisor for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, is joining the Brookings Institution as a Senior Fellow in its Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. 
• Dan Restrepo, the former Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), is now a Senior Fellow at CAP.
• Tom Donilon, the former National Security Adviser to President Obama, is now a Distinguished Fellow at CFR.
• Matt Lee-Ashley, former Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of the Interior, is now a Senior Fellow at CAP. 
• Thomas Nides, former Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources,will become the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Wilson Center.
• Mark Patterson, former Chief of Staff at the Department of Treasury, is now a Senior Fellow at CAP. 
• Edwin Truman, former Treasury Department official, is a Senior Fellow at PIIE. 
• Rosa Brooks, former Counselor to the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, is a Senior Fellow at NAF. 
• Elizabeth Rosenberg, former Senior Advisor at the Department of Treasury, is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy, Environment and Security Program at CNAS.
• Derek Chollet, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, is a Counselor and and Senior Advisor for Security and Defense policy at GMF.
• Bina Venkataraman, former senior advisor for climate change in the Obama Administration, is a Carnegie fellow at New America.

Of course, not everyone is taking the Administration to think tank route.  For example, Michael McFaul, the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, recently became the US Ambassador to Russia.  He is currently on leave from the Hoover Institution.  In addition, Meredith Broadbent, a former Assistant US Trade Representative (USTR) in the Bush Administration, and the Scholl Chair in International Business at CSIS, has recently been appointed to the International Trade Commission (ITC).  She will be replaced by Scott Miller.  In addition, F. Scott Kieff, Director of the Project on Commercializing Innovation at Stanford's Hoover Institution, has been nominated to serve as a member of the International Trade Commission.  Also, Antony Blinken, a former Senior Fellow at CNAS, has become the Deputy National Security Adviser to President Obama.  Jennifer Palmieri, who was the President of the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF), has become the White House Director of Communications.  RAND Corp.'s James Dobbins has been appointed as President Obama's new Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.  And Martin Indyk, former Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, has become the US's Middle East Peace Envoy.

Then, there are those who are still at think tanks but are advising the Obama Administration, such as GMF President Karen Donfried, who was appointed in late 2014 to the Secretary of State's Advisory Board.

Here is an interesting article about think tanks and the revolving door written by Christopher Preble of the Cato Institute.

[Please note that I plan to keep adding to the list above as more people from the Obama Administration leave for think tanks.]