Ronan Farrow, New Clinton Special Adviser for Global Youth Issues Now in a Committed Relationship

Image via WikipediaRonan Farrow who was officially appointed Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Global Youth Issues last June is apparently "in a committed relationship with Chef Boyardee" as he "ate microwaved StateDept convenience store food at desk after 10pm at least twice" last week.

Well, sure, I wanted to know what you ate for lunch at your desk every day of the week since you came back to Foggy Bottom but you never said/tweeted anything about having a committed relationship with Chef B or about the State Dept cafeteria food. And he did. And not just about any food either but our top US banker's food, too!

Ronan Farrow
Pretty sure if #China found out what the @StateDept cafeteria's passing off as Chinese food it'd cause a diplomatic incident.
19 Aug

Ronan Farrow whose real name according to the ever reliable Wikipedia is Satchel Ronan O'Sullivan Farrow is the son of film director Woody Allen and actress Mia Farrow.  He is also the grandson of director John Farrow and actress Maureen O'Sullivan. 

But that's not why you should know him. Prior to this appointment, he worked in the late SRAP Richard Holbrooke's Af/Pak shop. For those who might exclaim, "He's so young!" or "But that's Mia Farrow's son!" -- Mr. Farrow apparently has the chops.  He graduated from college at age 15 and was accepted at Yale Law at 16 but deferred his admission to work for Ambassador Holbrooke. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the New York bar.  He has a long list of accomplishments for one who is not even 25 years old.  He will feel right at home in an organization full of high achievers.  It's a good thing he has his own office; the oldies not always goldies at State would not know what to do with him had he started in A100.

Below is his official bio at state.gov:

Ronan Farrow
Special Adviser to the Secretary of State
Global Youth Issues
Term of Appointment: 06/30/2011 to present

Ronan Farrow is Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Global Youth Issues and director of the State Department’s Global Youth Issues office. With youth populations swelling and young people driving global events to an unprecedented extent, Special Adviser Farrow is responsible for implementing and amplifying youth policy and programming throughout the Department. The Office of Global Youth Issues, created by Secretary Clinton as a result of a Department-wide review of youth policy, oversees an historic effort to empower young people as economic and civic actors through US programs, encourage governments to respond to youth through US diplomacy, and directly engage young people around the world.

A lawyer and former human rights advocate and journalist, Special Adviser Farrow assumed his current role following two years as the State Department’s Special Adviser for Humanitarian and NGO Affairs in the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, overseeing the U.S. Government’s relationships with civil society and non-governmental actors.

Prior to joining the State Department, he served as Spokesperson for Youth at UNICEF, working with youth groups on the AIDS epidemic in Nigeria, on post-war reconstruction efforts in Angola, and in the Darfur region of Sudan. His writings on humanitarian and human rights issues have appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times, the International Herald Tribune and the Wall Street Journal, and he has appeared on MSNBC, ABC and CNN, among others, advocating for children associated with armed conflicts. He has heavily emphasized youth engagement in his advocacy efforts, working at the forefront of the student movement on Darfur and touring the country speaking at universities as a Representative for the Genocide Intervention Network.

In 2008, he was awarded Refugees International’s McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award for “extraordinary service to refugees and displaced people.” In 2009, he was named by New York Magazine as their “New Activist” of the year and included on their list of individuals “on the verge of changing their worlds.” In 2010, Harper’s Bazaar named him their “up-and-coming politician of the year.”

He is a graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the New York bar. During his time at Yale Law School, he practiced at New York-based law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. He has also served on the legal counsel team for the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, working on international human rights law issues.

Here he is at the UN during a meeting on youth at the General Assembly last month:

Full text of the speech is here.