Kiron Skinner

Kiron Skinner
Skinner in 2018
30th Director of Policy Planning
In office September 4, 2018 – August 2, 2019
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Brian Hook
Succeeded by	Peter Berkowitz
Personal details
Born	1961 (age 62–63) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	Sacramento City College (AA) Spelman College (BA) Harvard University (MA, PhD)

Kiron Kanina Skinner (born 1961) is an American political scientist. She was Director of Policy Planning at the United States Department of State in the first Trump administration.^[1] Skinner is presently the Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy, where she teaches graduate courses in national security and public leadership. Prior to that, she was the Taube Professor of International Relations and Politics at Carnegie Mellon University, and the founding director of the Institute for Politics and Strategy and associated centers at the university. She is also the W. Glenn Campbell Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. After leaving the Department of State, she returned to her position at Carnegie Mellon University until stepping down in 2021.

She co-authored two books on Ronald Reagan: In His Own Hand (2001) and Reagan, a Life in Letters (2003), which were New York Times bestsellers.^[2] In 2005, Skinner was appointed by President George W. Bush to a term on the National Security Education Board.^[3]