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Joseph A. Farsakh is a political appointee and serves as Senior Policy Advisor in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs where he works with U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Timothy A. Lenderking on Yemen peace negotiations. Joseph supports political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict in Yemen, develop and execute U.S. foreign policy related to Yemen, and supports UN-brokered peace talks to end the war and begin a political transition in Yemen.
Joseph previously advised the Biden-Harris campaign on Gulf policy issues, and prior to joining the Biden Administration and the Office of Secretary Blinken in 2021, Joseph spent nearly ten years practicing law at a major American law firm. In addition to the New York office, Joseph worked in the law firm’s United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabian offices and brings deep expertise and relationships to the team he works with at the Department of State.
Joseph previously served as a legal analyst for The Carter Center during periods of transition in key Middle Eastern nations. He also externed at the California Supreme Court for the Honorable Justice Ming W. Chin. Over the course of his academic career, Joseph served as the Co-Chair of Harvard’s Electoral Politics Professional Interest Council, and Harvard’s Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs Professional Interest Council.
Joseph holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a Juris Doctor from the University of California, San Francisco College of the Law (Hastings), and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is an Orange County, CA native.
Updated August 2023