Marie Elizabeth Harf (born June 15, 1981) is the deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State and a former spokesperson for the Central Intelligence Agency.

 

She worked on the 2012 Obama campaign.

 

Harf, a native of Granville, Ohio, graduated from Granville High School in 1999.[1] She graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with BA in Political Science, and earned an MA in Foreign Affairs from University of Virginia.

 

Harf began her career at the Directorate of Intelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency as an analyst focusing on Middle Eastern leadership issues. She later became the media spokesperson of the CIA.


During the 2012 presidential election, Harf helped craft President Obama's national security and communications strategy, and also served as campaign spokeswoman on national security issues.

In June 2013, Harf was appointed Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department, where she currently serves as deputy under Jen Psaki.

On Monday, February 16, 2015, Harf, representing the U.S. State Department, explained that creating jobs were one of many solutions to dealing with the problem of ISIS, saying "We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs, whether….

 

She went on to suggest that the United States government should work with governments in the Middle East to help boost their economies.