Biography

Richard Goldberg is a senior advisor at FDD. He previously served on the White House National Security Council (NSC) staff; as deputy chief of staff, senior appropriations associate, and foreign policy advisor to former U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois; as chief of staff and head of legislative affairs to former Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois; and as a Navy Reserve Intelligence Officer with experience on the Joint Staff and in Afghanistan. He was sanctioned by Iran in August 2020.

A former staff associate for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations and a leader in efforts to expand U.S. missile defense cooperation with Israel, Richard played a key role in U.S. funding for the Arrow-3 program, Iron Dome, and the deployment of an advanced missile defense radar to the Negev Desert. He was instrumental in securing the first-ever funding for persecuted Christians in northern Iraq and led efforts to reform the United Nations and its related agencies. Richard was a founding staff director of the House U.S.-China Working Group and was among the first Americans ever to visit China’s human space launch center. He also led the Republican staff for several bipartisan congressional member organizations, including the Iran Working Group, the Armenian Caucus, the Commission on Divided Korean Families, and the Congressional Task Force Against Antisemitism.

In the Senate, Richard emerged as a leading architect of the toughest sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Featured in the book The Iran Wars, he was the lead Republican negotiator for three rounds of sanctions targeting the Central Bank of Iran, the SWIFT financial messaging service, and entire sectors of the Iranian economy. Richard also helped lead the fight against the “Russia Reset,” championing military assistance to key Eastern European allies and blocking the Pentagon from sharing classified missile defense data with Russia.

As Governor Rauner’s chief of staff, Richard managed government in America’s fifth-largest state, with oversight of all day-to-day operations, including homeland security, public safety, and public health. He also spearheaded the first-ever state legislation to divest public pension funds from companies engaged in boycotts of Israel, which sparked a nationwide initiative in state capitols around America.

As the NSC’s director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction, Richard helped coordinate key elements of President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran aimed at denying Iran all pathways to nuclear weapons. The regime in Tehran imposed sanctions on Richard in August 2020 for “being actively involved in economic terrorism” against the Islamic Republic.

As an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Richard served as a Navy Watch Officer in the Pentagon’s command center, as chief of counterintelligence threats for a reserve unit supporting U.S. European Command, and as a senior intelligence officer for an electronic attack squadron deployed to Afghanistan.

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