John Kirby Pentagon salary

John Francis Kirby (born 1963) is a retired rear admiral in the United States Navy who has served as the National Security Council’s Coordinator for Strategic Communications since 2022.

He previously served as Pentagon Press Secretary for the first year and a half of the Biden Administration, and from 2017 to 2021, he worked as a military and diplomatic analyst for CNN.

Prior to that, from 2015 to 2017, he was the spokesperson for the US Department of State in the Obama administration.

Kirby served at sea as a public affairs officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal and on the staff of the Commander, US 2nd Fleet embarked aboard the command and control ship USS Mount Whitney.

While ashore, Kirby worked as an instructor at the United States Naval Academy, a public affairs officer with the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (Blue Angels), the editor-in-chief of the Navy’s flagship monthly magazine, All Hands, and on the staff of the Chief of Naval Personnel, Commander of United States Naval Forces Europe, Chief of Naval Operations, and the special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He was the deputy assistant secretary of defence for media operations, reporting to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.