Served at the National Security Council under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. From 2001 to 2003, she was a U.S. negotiator with Iran on Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and Iraq, in which capacity she negotiated directly with Iran’s present foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. She is the CEO of the political risk consultancy firm Stratega. She will join Georgetown University as a visiting scholar next month. She is co-author of Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran.