Richard Grenell

Richard Grenell
Citizenship	United States
Occupation	National security commentator, former U.S. diplomat

Richard Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American media commentator and former diplomat. He is the longest serving U.S. spokesman at the United Nations. Grenell also briefly served as national security spokesman for Mitt Romney in his 2012 campaign for President of the United States, becoming the first openly gay spokesman for a Republican presidential candidate. He resigned after pressure from social conservatives.

Career

In 2001, Grenell was appointed by President George W. Bush as Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Serving in that role until 2008, Grenell became the longest serving U.S. spokesman at the United Nations, advising four different U.S. Ambassadors. During his tenure, Grenell led communication strategies on such issues as the War on Terror, global peacekeeping operations, Iran and North Korea's nuclear weapons programs, and the UN Oil for Food corruption scandal.

Prior to his post at the UN, Grenell was a political adviser to a number of prominent Republicans, including George Pataki and Dave Camp.

In 2009, Grenell founded Capitol Media Partners, an international strategic media and public affairs consultancy with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C. He is under contract with Fox News where he is a "Contributor" commenting on foreign affairs and the media. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, CBS News, CNN, Politico, Huffington Post, Washington Times, Newsmax, and Al Jazeera. In 2012, CNN ranked Grenell's social media outreach as one of the top 5, and Time magazine named Grenell as one of the Top 10 Political Twitter Feeds of 2014.

In 2013, Grenell was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

Personal

Grenell is a registered Republican. He received a master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and his bachelor's degree in Government and Public Administration from Evangel University. In June 2013, Grenell revealed that he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and started chemotherapy. In September 2013, Grenell announced that he was cancer free.

Gallery

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  Grenell at a UN Security Council meeting in 2004

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  Grenell briefing reporters