Max Bluestein is starting a new position as Director at the National Security Council (NSC) at The White House, a move he announced on LinkedIn. Bluestein brings extensive experience in policy and public affairs at the private, local, and federal levels.
Before joining the NSC, Bluestein served as a Senior Advisor at INTERPOL Washington, while simultaneously being a National Security Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). From 2021 to 2023, he was the Assistant Director in Policy, Plans, and Strategy at the Office of Naval Intelligence.
Bluestein’s tenure at DHS spanned several high-level roles. From 2020 to 2021, he was a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention / Law Enforcement Policy and Senior Advisor to the Deputy Undersecretary. In 2020, he served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, overseeing DHS’s strategic communications during some of the department’s most challenging periods, including the COVID-19 pandemic. In this role, he managed messaging strategies, speechwriting, media relations, and digital communications while coordinating with key DHS components.
Bluestein also served as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Homeland Security on detail in 2020. Prior to that, from 2019 to 2020, he was the Acting Deputy Press Secretary and later Acting Press Secretary, where he led DHS’s media relations and messaging on behalf of the agency’s 240,000 employees.
He was a Headquarters Branch Chief in the Office of Public Affairs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2018 to 2020, until he was called up on detail to move to DHS. In this role, he managed a high-pressure public affairs team, overseeing crisis communications and major policy rollouts.
Earlier in his career, Bluestein gained experience in public affairs and crisis communication as a Supervisory Public Information Officer for the DC Government. He also served as a Reserve Specialist at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), where he deployed to disaster zones to coordinate digital strategy and messaging during recovery operations.
He worked in the public sector as a Consultant at the Identification Technology Association and as Director of State Relations at Keeping, Director of Research, and Consultant at IDentities Safe. In these roles, he researched and advocated for document security policies, testifying before Congress and multiple state legislatures. His published works include numerous op-eds in major publications such as USA Today and Homeland Security Today, where he provided insights on security threats and policy solutions.
Through his impressive tenure in the federal government, he earned two distinguished honors: the Outstanding Performance Award from then-Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf in December 2020 and the Outstanding Achievement Award from Assistant Secretary Van Debeek in July 2020, recognizing his leadership and contributions during critical moments for the agency.