Daniel B. Poneman

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy

Daniel B. Poneman is the U.S. deputy secretary of energy and is chief operating office of the U.S. Department of Energy. He was nominated to that post by President Barack Obama in April 2009 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate the following month.

Mr. Poneman first joined the Department of Energy in 1989 as a White House Fellow. In 1990, he joined the National Security Council staff as director of defense policy and arms control.

From 1993 through 1996, he served as special assistant to the President and senior director for nonproliferation and export controls at the National Security Council. His responsibilities included the development and implementation of U.S. policy in such areas as peaceful nuclear cooperation, missile technology, space-launch activities, sanctions determinations, chemical and biological arms control efforts, and conventional arms transfer policy.

After leaving the White House, Mr. Poneman served as a member of the Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and a number of other federal advisory panels.

Prior to assuming his responsibilities as deputy secretary, Mr. Poneman served as a principal of the Scowcroft Group for eight years, providing strategic advice to corporations on a wide variety of international projects and transactions. He practiced law as an associate at Covington & Burling and, later, as a partner at Hogan & Hartson.

Mr. Poneman received A.B. and J.D. degrees with honors from Harvard University and an M.Litt. in politics from Oxford University.