Josh Paul

Josh Paul  (Director)
Alma mater	University of St Andrews, Georgetown University
Director of Congressional and Public Affairs In office April 2012 - 19 October 2023 Employer US State Department  Associate In office 2011 - 2012 Employer Booz Allen Hamilton  Consultant,  Advisor In office 2008 - 2011 Employer Libra Advisory Group Ltd

Josh Paul is the former Director of Congressional and Public Affairs, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, in the US Department of State, who resigned on 19 October 2023.

In the US State Department, Josh Paul was responsible for shaping and implementing an holistic communications strategy in support of US security assistance, arms transfers, and global defence partnerships. Previously he was consultant for the US and UK governments in Iraq and Palestine on institutional development and security sector governance; Hill alum (Steve Israel, D-NY); stints in Army Staff (G8) & OSD Policy (ME).

Resignation

On 19 October 2023, the New York Times reported:

Josh Paul, a State Department official in the bureau that oversees arms transfers resigned this week in protest of the Biden administration’s decision to continue sending weapons and ammunition to Israel as it lays siege to Gaza in its war with Hamas.

In his resignation letter, Josh Paul, who has been the Director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for over 11 years, said the Biden administration’s “blind support for one side” was leading to policy decisions that were “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse.”

“The response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people,” he wrote, adding, “I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer.”

In an interview, Mr Paul said that Israel’s cutting off of water, food, medical care and electricity to the Gaza Strip, a region of two million people, should prompt protections in a number of longstanding federal laws intended to keep American weapons out of the hands of human rights violators. But those legal guardrails are failing, he said.

Comment

On 19 October 2023, Yanis Varoufakis posted on X:

Decency may be rare but has not totally disappeared (even if it can only appear through... resigning):

"US official resigns over Biden’s ‘destructive, unjust’ arms to Israel".

Working in Ramallah

Before his employment in the US State Department, Josh Paul was employed by the Libra Advisory Group Ltd, and worked in Ramallah in the West Bank. He was Lead Advisor on behalf of the US Security Coordinator to the Palestinian Authority on matters related to security sector governance in support of the security track of the Two-state solution. According to his job description, Josh Paul

• Analysed local and regional governance mechanisms within the Palestinian security sector in order to provide recommendations to address critical gaps in capabilities.
• Liaised between the United States Security Coordinator, Palestinian security sector international donor community, and Palestinian civil society to promote and institutionalise governance, oversight, and accountability systems which enforce adherence to the rule of law.
• Oversaw program activities in the security sector to ensure alignment with objectives and maximise program effectiveness.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.