On Monday, May 15, at 11 a.m. ET, the McCain Institute’s Media Fellow & White House Correspondent for Gray Television Jon Decker will conduct an exclusive interview with Coordinator for Strategic Communications for the White House’s National Security Council John Kirby. McCain Institute Executive Director Dr. Evelyn Farkas will introduce the event.
The hour-long interview comes just days before the upcoming G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Decker and Kirby will discuss in-depth the challenge that China poses to the United States and its allies, who are seeking to diversify supply chains away from Beijing. Also on the agenda, efforts to contain North Korea, alleged Russian atrocities in the Ukraine war as well as energy, food, and climate security. The timely event comes as the war in Ukraine enters its 15th month and fears mount over a possible conflict with China over Taiwan.
Watch the virtual event live here: https://asu.zoom.us/j/86885294069
————————————————–
About John Kirby:
John F. Kirby is the Coordinator for Strategic Communications for the White House’s National Security Council. In this role, he advises the President on national security messaging and works to amplify the Biden-Harris Administration’s foreign policy goals from the White House and across the government.
Most recently, Kirby served as the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Here, he advised Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks on public communications and community engagement. He also served as the Department’s chief spokesperson.
Prior, Kirby was an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a military and diplomatic analyst at CNN. Kirby previously served at the Department of State, as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Public Affairs from December 2015 to January 2017 and as the State Department’s spokesperson from May 2015 to January 2017.
Prior to the State Department, Kirby served as the Pentagon Press Secretary under Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, the first uniformed officer to hold the position of chief spokesman for the Department of Defense.
Kirby commissioned in the U.S. Navy in September 1986 after completing Officer Candidate School at Newport, R.I. He served in uniform for more than 28 years, before retiring in 2015 at the rank of Rear Admiral. His naval career included duty at sea and ashore, including deployments to the Middle East and Mediterranean. His last Navy posting was as Chief of Navy Information, where he served as the principal spokesman for the Department of the Navy.
He is a 1985 graduate of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in History. He holds a Master of Science degree in International Relations from Troy State University and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.
About Jon Decker:
Jon Decker is the award-winning White House Correspondent and Senior National Editor for Gray Television, America’s second-largest television broadcaster with 113 television stations. He has been a member of the White House Press Corps since 1995. He is also the White House Correspondent for iHeart Radio, owner of 860 radio stations in 126 markets. In 2015, he was elected by his colleagues to the Board of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Jon serves on the faculty of Georgetown University, GW Law and the UCLA School of Law where he is an Adjunct Professor. He also serves as a Media Fellow at the McCain Institute. Jon, a member of the Washington, DC Bar and the U.S. Supreme Court Bar, is the only lawyer in the White House Press Corps.
Previously, Jon served as the White House correspondent for Fox News Radio, Reuters Television and SiriusXM Radio; Washington correspondent for PBS Television’s “Nightly Business Report”; the host of PBS Television’s “This Week in Business”; business reporter for the NBC affiliate in Washington (WRC); and field producer for NBC in Miami. He has served as a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and was also an aide to the late U.S. Senator John Heinz. Jon, who was born in Washington, DC, received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees with Honors from the University of Pennsylvania and received a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. He also studied international law at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Jon has covered the Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden Administrations, as well as 27 State of the Union Addresses, 7 Presidential elections and the Impeachments of both President Clinton and President Trump. He has been in the Supreme Court to cover some of the most important cases of the past two decades – including Bush v. Gore, NFIB v. Sebelius – which challenged the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, and Windsor v. United States – the landmark civil rights case concerning same-sex marriage.
Jon has also covered all four tennis Grand Slams and has served as a Commentator on the Tennis Channel. He also serves as a Board Member of the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation and on the Board of Governors of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
In the past two decades, Jon has reported from Athens, Amsterdam, Brussels, Budapest, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva, The Hague, Stockholm, Warsaw, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the West Bank, Luxembourg, Madrid, Rome, Milan, Montreal, Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, Bali, Singapore, Seoul, the DMZ, Sydney, Melbourne, Mexico City, Panama, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Havana and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Columbia Journalism Review has called Jon « refreshingly self-aware-for-a-reporter. » In his spare time, Jon enjoys playing tennis, traveling, and spending time with his wife, Caroline.
