WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, today announced that he has hired William Danvers, an expert in international affairs, to be staff director of the Committee.
“I’m excited that Bill has agreed to serve as Staff Director at such an important time for American foreign policy and a critical period for the Senate and our role in global challenges,” said Sen. Kerry. “I’ve known Bill a long time, and he brings with him decades of experience in the intelligence community, the executive branch and as a Hill staffer – a trifecta for our Committee. He brings a collegial, team-oriented approach to management. Working with our new Deputy Staff Director, Peter Scoblic, Bill will help ensure that the Committee stays ahead of the curve and remains on the proactive, energetic, and largely bipartisan path the Committee has charted the last couple years with the active engagement of all our members.”
Danvers is an expert in international affairs with 30 years of experience in Congress, the Executive Branch, including the White House, State Department, intelligence community, and Department of Defense, as well as private sector experience. He most recently served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Before that he spent two years as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Congressional Affairs. Danvers is returning to the Senate, where he worked as a Legislative Assistant in the early 1990s. He has also served as a Senior Advisor to Ambassador Strobe Talbott from 1993 to 1994 and as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for Legislative Affairs for the National Security Council from 1994 to 1997.
Senator Kerry also officially announced the promotion of Peter Scoblic as the Committee’s Deputy Staff Director. Scoblic, formerly the Executive Editor of The New Republic, has served on the Foreign Relations Committee since 2010 as Senior Policy Advisor, working particularly closely on the New START ratification process. Scoblic is the author of “U.S. vs. Them,” a history of nuclear policy, which he wrote while he was a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has also served as Editor of Arms Control Today.
In addition, Senator Kerry announced that Jodi Seth, his Communications Director of three years, will take on an expanded role overseeing the entire Kerry communications operation, both on domestic and foreign issues, bridging the personal office and the Committee, working closely with the Committee’s Press Secretary, Jennifer Berlin. Prior to joining the Kerry staff in 2008, Seth was Communications Director for the House Energy and Commerce Committee for six years.
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