John Joseph Sullivan is the 19th and present US Deputy Secretary of State under the administration of President Trump.
On 1st April, 2018 he became the Acting Secretary of State. Rex Tillerson, then US Secretary of State was dismissed by President Trump on 13th March, 2018. He however did not officially leave the office till 31st March. All responsibilities of the office were however delegated to Sullivan from March 13th itself. After the appointment of Mike Pompeo as the new Secretary of State on April 26, 2018, Sullivan ceased to be the Acting SOS.
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Early Life and Education
John was born on November 20, 1959 in Boston, MA.
He attended Xaverian Brothers High School and graduated in 1977. He then went to Brown University and graduated in 1981 with a BA degree in political science and history. He subsequently enrolled at Columbia Law School and received his Juris Doctor in 1985. Sullivan was Columbia Law Review’s Book Reviews Editor and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar while studying at Columbia Law School.
Career
Sullivan worked as a law clerk at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for Judge John Minor Wisdom. He also clerked for US Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter.
In 1991, John worked in the Office of Legal Counsel of the US Department of Justice as a Counselor to General J. Michael Luttig, the Assistant Attorney. In 1992 during the re-election campaign of President George H. W. Bush, he worked as the Deputy General Counsel to Bush.
Sullivan began working for “Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP”, a law firm in Washington DC, in 1993. He was engaged in Supreme Court law at the firm. He was co-chair of the National Security practice of the firm and a partner in the DC office of Mayer Brown.
In Feb 2004, John was appointed as the Sullivan as Deputy General Counsel of the US Department of Defense by Donald Rumsfeld, then United States Secretary of Defense. He was in charge of all litigations concerning the DOJ and was responsible for counsel on key congressional and criminal investigations. He received the ‘Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Exceptional Public Service’ award during his time at the office.
Sullivan later began working as General Counsel to the United States Department of Commerce (DOC). As the Designated Agency Ethics Official and the chief legal officer of the department, he oversaw more than 390 lawyers’ work in varied legal offices and offered legal advice to all constituents of the DOC.
On 1st Sep, 2007, Sullivan was appointed as the Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce after the resignation of David Sampson, the then Deputy Secretary of Commerce. President George W. Bush later nominated him to the post, confirmed by the Senate, and sworn in on 14th March, 2008.
From 2010-16, Sullivan served as the Chairman of the governmental advisory committee ‘US-Iraq Business Dialogue’ which dealt with the economic relations of the United States with Iraq.
Sullivan was nominated as the US Deputy Secretary of State by President Trump on 11th April, 2017. The Senate confirmed him in May.
Personal Life and Trivia
- Sullivan is married to Grace Rodriguez. The couple has 3 children and the family lives in Maryland.
- John is the nephew of William H. Sullivan who was a former US Ambassador to Iran.
John J. Sullivan – Salary
As Deputy Secretary of State, Sullivan earns an annual salary of $189,600 as a Level II employee of the US federal government.
