John Bolton

John Bolton served as National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump from April 2018 to September 2019 and as United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006 under President George W. Bush — two of the most consequential national security positions in the American government — and has been over three decades one of the most consistent and uncompromising voices in American foreign policy for Israeli security, regime change in Iran, and maximum American hawkishness on the threats facing the democratic world. Born November 20, 1948, in Baltimore, Maryland, Bolton graduated from Yale University and Yale Law School, served in the Army National Guard, and built his career in Republican foreign policy circles through a series of State Department and Justice Department positions across Republican administrations.

Bolton's record on Israel is categorical: he supported the Jerusalem embassy move, supported recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, and was the administration's most consistent internal advocate for military action against Iran's nuclear program — a position he has held since at least 2009 and has restated publicly through the decade-plus between his government stints. His 2019 departure from the Trump administration — Trump announced Bolton was fired; Bolton said he resigned — reflected disagreements over Afghanistan negotiations and Iran policy, with Bolton consistently preferring more aggressive action than Trump was willing to take.

At the UN, Bolton was known for his confrontational relationship with the institution's bureaucratic culture and its treatment of Israel — the same posture Nikki Haley later brought to the same job. His memoir, "The Room Where It Happened" (2020), contains detailed accounts of internal deliberations on Iran and Israel that illuminate how close the Trump administration came to more aggressive action against Iran. Post-government, Bolton has remained a consistent voice arguing that the Iran nuclear threat requires military action and that half-measures — including sanctions and diplomacy without a credible military threat — are insufficient. At Rank 73, Bolton represents the foreign policy hawk whose decades-long consistency on Iran and Israel has made him the clearest standard-bearer for the position that Israel's security requires American willingness to use force.