John Robert Bolton

John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican presidential administrations. He served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 until December 2006 on a recess appointment. He resigned in December 2006 when his recess appointment would have ended because he was unable to gain confirmation from the Senate.

Bolton is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Fox News Channel commentator, and of counsel to the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, in their Washington D.C. office. He is also involved with a broad assortment of other conservative think tanks and policy institutes, including the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Institute of East-West Dynamics, National Rifle Association, US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the Council for National Policy (CNP). Bolton is often described as a neoconservative, though he personally rejects the term.

In August 2010, Bolton suggested that he may run for president in 2012 because legitimate issues of national security should be more at the center of the national debate than they have been for the last two years.