Brett McGurk
Director for Iraq, National Security Council

Brett McGurk served as Associate General Counsel to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad from January to June 2004, before serving as a legal advisor to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, where he finished his service in October 2004. While in Baghdad, McGurk helped structure the legal framework for nationwide elections and participated in the negotiation of Iraq's interim constitution.

He now serves in the White House as a Director for Iraq in the National Security Council, handling a policy portfolio that includes the national political process, rule of law coordination, elections, and constitutional matters.

Before joining the NSC, McGurk practiced appellate litigation at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Virginia, teaching a course on the international law of post-conflict transitions.

McGurk is a former Supreme Court law clerk, serving with the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist for the Supreme Court's 2001-2002 Term. He also served as a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit with Judge Dennis Jacobs, and on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York with Judge Gerard E. Lynch.

McGurk is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law, and the University of Connecticut.