Experts

Mara Rudman

Fast Facts

  • Served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, including as deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs
  • Former director, Ripples of Hope Project
  • Former deputy envoy and chief of staff for the Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, U.S. Department of State
  • Expertise in foreign affairs, diplomacy, national security, the Middle East

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • War and Terrorism
  • Middle East
  • Governance
  • The Presidency

Mara Rudman is a practitioner senior fellow at the Miller Center, where she formerly directed the Ripples of Hope Project aimed at identifying practical approaches to help democratic leaders resolve key challenges. She previously served a term as a Miller Center Schlesinger Distinguished Professor.

Rudman served on the 2022 National Defense Strategy Commission. She is a member of the Board of Visitors for the Howard University College of Arts and Sciences. She also consults for Democracy Forward. 

Rudman’s government positions have included serving as deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs in the Obama and Clinton administrations; deputy envoy for the Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace at the U.S. Department of State; assistant administrator for the Middle East at the U.S. Agency for International Development; and chief counsel to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.  

Previously, Rudman was executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress and senior vice president for policy/projects at Business Executives for National Security. She also led Quorum Strategies, a geopolitical strategic advisory firm. Rudman has been a guest on numerous TV and radio shows and has written for and been quoted in various print publications. She received her BA from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

Mara Rudman News Feed

To celebrate the launch of the Miller Center’s Barack Obama Oral History Project, discussions with senior Obama administration officials over two days address the main issues, events, crises, and political environment of the Obama era and the 44th presidency.
Mara Rudman Miller Center Presents
US State Department Former Envoy Mara Rudman tells Kailey Leinz that the US and Israel need to consider that although Iran has been degraded, the regime is still "skilled at fighting asymmetrically"
Mara Rudman Bloomberg TV
Mara Rudman discusses the implications for Asia during the U.S.-Iran war.
Mara Rudman Bloomberg Daybreak Asia
Eric and Eliot continue to wrestle with the ongoing Iran war, examining the media coverage surrounding it, the tactical successes the joint forces have had, the inexplicable failure to provide counter-drone defense to US forces, the baffling inattention to mine storage facilities that may have led to mines being seeded in the Gulf, and the enormous expenditure of munitions that may leave the US vulnerable if military operations were required in other theaters.
Mara Rudman CNN
Panelists emphasized the dueling political and military motives for President Trump’s recent strikes in Iran and discussed the unprecedented nature of ‘decapitating’ a regime
William Antholis, Philip Potter, Eric Edelman, and Mara Rudman The Cavalier Daily
In a special pop-up event, Miller Center experts discuss the unfolding crisis in Iran and the broader Middle East.
Mara Rudman, Eric Edelman, Philip Potter, and William Antholis Miller Center Presents