BIOGRAPHY
Released by the Office of Policy Planning
Updated: Marcch 25, 2009
Jared Cohen joined the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff in September 2006. He is responsible for counter-terrorism, counter-radicalization, the Persian Gulf, Public Diplomacy, Muslim world outreach, new technology and eMedia, and Youth issues.
Prior to joining the Policy Planning Staff, Jared received his B.A. from Stanford University and his M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. While at Oxford, he spent substantial amounts of time in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon where he looked at youth in the Islamic world and how they view themselves and their changing role in the world after 9/11. He has also traveled extensively throughout Africa looking at issues related to conflict resolution, genocide, and democracy.
Jared is author of the books Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East (Penguin Books/Gotham Division) and One Hundred Days of Silence: America and the Rwanda Genocide (Rowman & Littlefield). The former was selected as one of Kirkus Review’s “Best Books of 2007”. Additional publications include "The Passive Revolution: Is Political Resistance Dead or Alive in Iran" (Hoover Digest, 2005) and "Iran’s Young Opposition: Youth in Post-Revolutionary Iran" (SAIS Review, 2006) and the forthcoming article in Policy Review “Challenge of Alternatives: Youth, Technology, and the Struggle Against Violent Extremism”.
He frequently appears in the media to talk about issues related to youth and has been featured in the New Yorker, appeared on The Colbert Report, CNN, NBC, ABC, Fox News, NPR, MSNBC, BBC, Comedy Central, and a variety of other TV and radio programs both domestic and international. Cohen is also a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post’s world section. He is fluent in Swahili.
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