Ambassador Daniel B. Shapiro was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East on January 8, 2024.

He previously served as the Department of State’s Senior Advisor for Regional Integration in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs from 2023 to 2024. He served as the Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy for Iran from 2021 to 2022. DASD Shapiro served as U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2011 to 2017.

He was the Director of the N7 Initiative and Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs prior to joining the Biden administration. DASD Shapiro has served in numerous senior foreign policy positions in the Executive Branch and the U.S. Congress. He was Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council from 2009 to 2011, and was Director for Legislative Affairs at the National Security Council from 1999 to 2001.

He previously served in senior advisory positions to U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, and on the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. A graduate of Brandeis University, he holds a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. He speaks Hebrew and some Arabic.