John Podesta

 ( 1949 Births ) 

Podesta has taught at his alma mater, Georgetown University Law Center, many times over the years, teaching classes on congressional investigations, law and technology, legislation, copyright and public-interest law. Our Faculty: John Podesta, Distinguished Visitor from Practice, Georgetown University Law Center, August 5, 2016. On the Georgetown faculty, Podesta's title is Distinguished Visitor from Practice. From 2002 to 2014, Podesta served as a member of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee. In 2008, he authored The Power of Progress: How America's Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate, and Our Country. In 2009, he accompanied Bill Clinton to North Korea for negotiations securing the release of two American journalists imprisoned on espionage charges. He can be seen in numerous widely circulated photographs of Clinton meeting with Kim Jong-il.

Podesta opposes the excessive use of classification, and in a 2004 speech at Princeton University condemned what he called the U.S.'s "excessive government secrecy" and "bloated secrecy bureaucracy". John Podesta 2004 Remarks at Princeton University, Center for American Progress, March 10, 2004. Podesta has called Executive Order 12958, "which set tough standards for classifying documents and led to the unprecedented effort to declassify millions of pages from our nation's diplomatic and national security history," as "perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the Clinton administration." More than 800 million pages of intelligence documents were declassified as part of the program.

Podesta is described as "a longtime advocate for government disclosure of UFO files". Podesta has supported petitions by some who believe UFOs are alien spacecraft to the government to release files related to the subject. At a 2002 news conference organized by Coalition for Freedom of Information Podesta stated that, "It is time for the government to declassify records that are more than 25 years old and to provide scientists with data that will assist in determining the real nature of this phenomenon." Podesta wrote the foreword for a book by Leslie Kean titled "UFOs- Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On The Record". The book details numerous contact events by these trained personnel.Kean, Leslie (2010) "UFOs- Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On The Record" Harmony Books/Random House. Task Force on Government Performance.]] Podesta became an honorary patron of the University Philosophical Society in March 2006. Podesta is an emeritus member of the Knox College Board of Trustees. Podesta has served on the board of directors of Bedford, Massachusetts–based energy company Joule Unlimited since January 2011., Joule Unlimited (accessed August 5, 2016). He has also served on the board of the Portland, Oregon-based Equilibrium Capital. In 2013, Podesta earned $90,000 as a consultant to the West Chester, Pennsylvania-based HJW Foundation, a nonprofit group led by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. He was the U.S. representative to the UN High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

After the 2016 election, Podesta joined The Washington Post as a columnist. Podesta also sits on the steering committee of the China–United States Exchange Foundation. On September 2, 2022, President Joe Biden appointed Podesta as senior advisor to the president for clean energy innovation and implementation, heading his own new dedicated White House office. For nearly two years in this role, Podesta oversaw the $370–783 billion climate investment authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which was passed the previous month. He left to succeed John Kerry in the role of U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate in 2024.

The White House Office on Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation was abolished by President Trump by his "Unleashing American Energy" executive order on January 20th, 2025.