Alex Pascal

Since May 2009, Alex Pascal has served on the National Security Staff (NSS) at the White House as Executive Assistant to National Security Advisor.  In this role, he works on a diverse range of issues and performs a variety of policy, coordination and operational staff functions to support the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign and national security policy.  Prior to joining the NSS, Alex served at the State Department as Special Assistant to the Special Envoy for Middle East Regional Security, where he worked on the local and regional security elements of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, focusing on the Levant region.  Alex has also worked abroad in Yemen, where he did field research on state fragility as an NSEP Boren Fellow, in Syria at U.S. Embassy Damascus during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, in the West Bank doing election monitoring for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), and in South Africa at a local NGO working to enhance public participation in national policymaking. 

A native of Boston, Alex received his B.A. in English with Distinction and Honors from Stanford University in 2001 and his M.A. in International Relations with Distinction from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 2007, concentrating in Strategic Studies and International Economics.