Mona Sutphen

Leader Macro-Analysis, UBS Wealth Management (since March 2011)

(Nikki Kahn/TWP)

Why She Matters

After President Bill Clinton left the White House in 2001, Sutphen took a job with a consulting firm and swore off Washington.

After eight years away, she moved back as President Barack Obama's deputy chief of staff. She focused on foreign affairs, an issue near to her heart.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Former Deputy Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama (January 2009-2011); Foreign Policy Adviser, Barack Obama 's 2008 Presidential Campaign (2006 to 2008); Angliss International, consultant (2000 to 2006); Aide to Bill Richardson , American diplomat to the U.N. (1999 to 2000); Other Government Positions: Special Assistant to National Security Adviser Sandy Berger (1998 to 1999); Foreign Service (1992 to 1998)
Alma Mater: Mount Holyoke College, B.A. (international relations); London School of Economics, M.A. (international political economy)

Spouse: Clyde Williams
Website : N/A

Path to Power

Sutphen is the daughter of a white mother and an African American father who lived in Kansas City, Mo. Because interracial marriage was illegal, her parents scooted over the border to Kansas one lunch hour for a wedding ceremony.

Sutphen graduated from Mount Holyoke College with an international relations degree and earned a master's degree in international political economy from the London School of Economics.

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She joined the Foreign Service in 1992, and was posted to Bangkok and Sarajevo. In Thailand, she kept tabs on the pro-democracy movement in Burma. She helped implement the civilian provisions of the Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia.

Clinton Administration

In 1998, her position brought her to the White House to join former President Bill Clinton's national security team as a special assistant to former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger.

There, she helped shape the country's trade and counter-terrorism policies, as well as its relations with Iraq and China.

She also worked as an aide to Bill Richardson when he was United Nations ambassador. It was there that she played a small role in Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal.

In 1998, at the request of John Podesta, who was Clinton's deputy chief of staff, Sutphen conducted a 45-minute job interview with Lewinsky for a position with Richardson. Sutphen later offered Lewinsky a job, which she declined.

Though Sutphen's role was minimal, her name made it into the final Starr Report.

Consultant and Lobbyist

After Clinton left the White House, Sutphen moved into the private sector as a consultant. She said she would be reluctant to return to government - she was haunted by the 15-hour days and the constant demands for her attention. After she left, she said she heard her beeper ringing even when she didn't have it with her.

She worked as a lobbyist for Angliss International, a London-based food distributor, and other financial service companies, before moving over to Stonebridge International, a Washington consulting firm that advises Fortune 500 multinational corporations on investment opportunities worldwide. There she oversaw special projects.

In December 2007, she joined 59 other foreign policy experts in endorsing Obama for president.

She started volunteering on his campaign as a foreign policy adviser. Shortly after his election, she was named to his transition team, where she supervised the applications of foreign policy advisers. She was named deputy chief of staff just weeks after the November 2008 election results.

Sutphen is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Women's Foreign Policy Group and serves on the boards of the International Human Rights Law Group and the Council on African-American Affairs.

The Issues

Sutphen divides the world into six superpowers: China, Russia, India, Japan, the European Union, and the U.S. She argues that in this century, global leadership will succeed or fail based on how successful the United States is at bringing this group together to address world challenges.

Sutphen says the most dangerous threats facing America today are terrorism and the potential of a world-wide pandemic. These no longer make it possible for the United States to go it alone, she wrote in her 2008 book The Next American Century, and technology has made travel much more possible. "It is far more important to have partners to prevent terrorists from leveling our skyscrapers than to have the tallest one," she has argued.

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She has called on the United States to use the rise of competing superpowers as an opportunity to develop new allies, and to reexamine its foreign policy so that the country opposes situations and not entire countries. For example, the United States should selectively hedge against China attacking Taiwan, but not against China more broadly.

In the first several months of 2009, Sutphen would like Obama to take some relatively small limited to signal the bent of his new administration. She proposed closing the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, agreeing to work cooperatively with the United Nations to solve the climate crisis and easing the Cuban embargo.

Terrorism and National Security

Terrorism is now a global threat, and Sutphen believes the only effective intelligence strategy is to share information with other powerful countries. This will lessen the burden on the United States while also ensuring that we are collecting the most accurate information.

Sutphen also writes that America will not be able to curtail North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programs without the support of China and India. This international preventative effort will only be more important as countries take on less immediate threats such as stopping nuclear proliferation and global warming.

Free Trade

Though Sutphen is sympathetic to the loss of manufacturing jobs, she writes that, on the whole, trade with foreign countries has improved the United States' GDP, investment opportunities, suppliers and customers. The inequity that comes with it is a problem for the United States to address, not China.

In the short-term, she has called on America to make itself more competitive through better education, more research funding, infrastructure improvements, and universal healthcare.

She has also called on the country to help China and India create middle classes in order to develop a new market for goods and global growth.

China

Sutphen has called on the United States to take a less defensive position with regard to China. While politicians often see the country as threatening, she believes that in the 21st century, America must view China as an ally that provides a vital tool in the effort to convince North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons.

Sutphen argues that China's growth has been responsible for a modest increase in U.S. GDP.

New Alliances

For Sutphen's vision to become a reality, she is calling on a new organization that will require regular interaction of the six new superpowers. Ideally, Sutphen says that the United Nations Security Council would include Japan and India, but she does not believe this is likely.

In the meantime, Sutphen proposes creating a group called the C-6 that would include her big six. She acknowledges that creating this new structure will be challenging, especially because some of the countries might view it as an attempt by Washington to claim center stage.

In the short term, she would like to expand the G-8 to permanently include Brazil, South Africa, China, India, Russia and Pakistan.

The Network

Sutphen's husband, Clyde Williams, was a senior domestic policy adviser to Clinton. He worked for Clinton after he left office and was a staunch supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he advised on domestic issues.He is now political director at the Democratic National Committee.

Sutphen's brother David is a well-known entertainment lobbyist who works for Viacom and the Recording Industry Association of America.

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Additional Resources