John D. Holum

John D. Holum was born on December 4, 1940, in Highmore, South Dakota.[2] He received a B.A. in mathematics and physics from Northern Michigan College and a J.D. from George Washington University School of Law in 1970.[2]

From 1965 to 1979 he worked as legislative director for Senator George McGovern.[2] When McGovern ran for president in 1972, Holum wrote his 56-page position paper on defense policy, which advocated cutting the defense budget from $87.3 billion in 1972 to $54.8 billion in 1975, a proposal Theodore White characterized as "an extraordinary flight of one man's imagination."[3] From 1979 to 1981, he worked as a Policy Planning staffer in the U.S. Department of State.[2] From 1981 to 1992, he worked in Washington, D.C. for O'Melveny & Myers.[2] In 1992, he joined Bill Clinton's campaign, until he was appointed as Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1993.[2] He served as Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 1997 until he was confirmed in 2000.[2] He left his job in 2001, with George W. Bush's administration.

• Appearances on C-SPAN

• John D. Holum, Foreign Policy - Why Obama?, Huffington Post, February 25, 2008