Alex T. Johnson

Guest Author

Alex T. Johnson (@atjsk1) is Chief of Staff of the Commission on Security and Coooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) for the 116th Congress. Prior to his appointment to the Commission, Johnson served as senior policy advisor for Europe and Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations, where he managed U.S.-focused advocacy for 12 national foundations and regional programs ranging from Central Asia to Western Europe.

An expert on European human rights and transatlantic security, Mr. Johnson is a former Obama Administration appointee at the Department of Defense, where he served as Special Advisor for Russia/Ukraine External Affairs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy). In his previous service at the U.S. Helsinki Commission, he spent almost four years as Representative of the Helsinki Commission at the United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna, Austria.  Mr. Johnson was also Congressional Black Caucus Foundation fellow in Chairman Alcee L. Hastings’ office and a consultant for local government initiatives in Portland and Corvallis, Oregon.

Mr. Johnson is known for his research and leadership of advocacy coalitions of diverse foreign policy professionals and is recognized for advancing inclusion for the U.S. national security workforce. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Truman National Security Project Defense Council, and among the founding advisors of the Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network (TILN) managed by the German Marshall Found (GMF).  He is a founding board member of FP21, non-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to transforming the processes and institutions of U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Johnson holds a BS in natural resources and an MPP, both from Oregon State University.