David Shimer

David Shimer is an American historian and foreign policy analyst who served at the White House National Security Council (NSC) during the Biden administration.^[1]

David Shimer
Nationality	American
Education	Yale University (BA, MA) Magdalen College, Oxford (DPhil)
Notable work	Rigged: America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference (2020)

Education

Shimer graduated from Yale University with bachelor's and master's degrees in history and was a Marshall Scholar and a Truman Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he received his doctorate in international relations.^[2][3][4]

Shimer was a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center and an Associate Fellow at Yale University.^[5]

Biden Administration

From 2021 until 2025, Shimer worked at the National Security Council, including as the Director for Eastern Europe and Ukraine and as Director for Russian Affairs.^[6]

Shimer was closely involved in the U.S. response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including efforts to release U.S. intelligence on Russia's plans prior to the invasion and to deliver U.S. military equipment to Ukraine.^[7]

In January 2025, Shimer argued in the Wall Street Journal that the United States should continue providing aid to the Ukrainian military.^[8]

Works

Prior to joining the Biden administration, Shimer wrote for The New York Times from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.^{[9][10][11][12]}

In June 2020, Shimer published the book Rigged: America, Russia, and One Hundred Years of Covert Electoral Interference (Knopf), a global history of foreign election interference.^[13] The New York Times, in its review of Rigged, said the book was "extraordinary and gripping" and had "the insight of a superb work of history."^[14] Rigged was also positively reviewed by NPR, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, as well as by Anne Applebaum, William Joseph Burns, Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta, Timothy Snyder, and Jake Sullivan.^[15][16][17]