Bret L. Stephens

Bret joined The New York Times as an Op-Ed columnist and associate editor in April 2017. He came to The Times after a long career with The Wall Street Journal, where he was deputy editorial-page editor and, for 11 years, the principal foreign-affairs columnist. 

Before that, Bret was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, a position he assumed at age 28. At the Post, he oversaw the paper’s news, editorial, and international divisions, while also writing a weekly column. He has reported from around the world and interviewed scores of world leaders. He is the author of America In Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder, published in 2014 by Penguin.

Bret’s awards and distinctions include the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and three honorary doctorates. He is a founder, with chess champion Garry Kasparov, of the Renew Democracy Initiative, an international organization dedicated to championing the principles of liberal democracy. Bret serves on the advisory boards of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, the University of California’s Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement, the Johns Hopkins University’s Agora Institute, and the IQ2 debate forum. In 2022, he was banned for life by the government of Russia from ever visiting that country.

Raised in Mexico City, Bret holds a B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics.