Antony John Blinken (born 16 April 1962) was the United States Secretary of State from 26 January 2021, succeeding Mike Pompeo.
Biography[]
Antony John Blinken was born in Yonkers, Westchester County, New York in 1962, the son of the United States Ambassador to Hungary Donald M. Blinken and the nephew of Alan Blinken. He worked as a lawyer in New York City and Paris before raising funds for Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988 and went on to hold several senior foreign policy positions during the next several presidencies. He served on the National Security Council from 1994 to 2001, supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, served as a National Security Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden from 2009 to 2013, as Deputy National Security Advisor from 2013 to 2015, as Deputy Secretary of State from 2015 to 2017, and as Secretary of State from 2021. Blinken opposed Brexit, supported the normalization of relations between Israel and its Arab adversaries (as well as continuing to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and supporting a two-state solution), supported a longer and stronger nuclear deal with Iran, supported the USA's close relations with Armenia and Georgia, and supported the resolution of the Tigray conflict.