Daniel P. Erikson is the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council. He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere at the U.S. Department of Defense from 2021 to 2024, where he oversaw U.S. defense and security policy for the thirty-four nation region encompassing Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Mr. Erikson also served in the White House as special advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden, where he covered foreign affairs and national security issues in the Americas. Prior to the White House, he served in the U.S. Department of State as senior advisor for Congressional and InterGovernmental Affairs and senior advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2010 to 2015. In 2017, he received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for his diplomatic contributions to U.S.-Latin American relations, including the advancement of bipartisan policies to support
security and development in Central America and Colombia.
In addition to his U.S. government experience, Mr. Erikson has held senior positions in the private sector, academia, and think-tanks, including at the Inter-American Dialogue from 2001 to 2010, where he served as the senior associate for U.S. policy, director of the China and Latin America program, and director for Caribbean programs. He has published widely on a range of topics in international and Latin American and Caribbean affairs and testified before the U.S. Congress. Mr. Erikson earned his Masters in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He lives with his wife and two daughters in Washington, D.C.