Meet speechwriter Daniel Cohen. He fell in love with the written word as a kid. While studying history in college, he realized the power words can hold and knew he wanted his job to help make the world a little better. We're glad he chose NNSA to do it.
National Nuclear Security Administration
May 9, 2024
minute read time
How do you support NNSA?
I’m the speechwriter for Administrator Jill Hruby. I work closely with her to create her public remarks, talking points, and language for congressional testimony. I also manage her social media. One of my most important duties is to work with NNSA program offices to draft our budget testimony every year.
What is your personal background, and how has that shaped you and your approach to your career?
I like to joke that I grew up arguing. There are a lot of lawyers in my family and that taught me from an early age that if you wanted people to see things from your point of view you had to be organized and logical. I will also forever appreciate that my parents instilled a love of reading in me very early on. Even my Bar-Mitzvah theme was books, with every table dedicated to a different author. It’s provided me limitless joy in my life, and it demonstrated that language matters. The right words can fix almost any situation, or make things worse. Knowing what to say, when to say it, and how to say it, is a skill honed over a lifetime. I definitely still have a lot to learn. There’s also a saying in Judaism, Tikun Olam, which means to repair the world or to leave the world better than you found it. The idea has stuck with me, and I’ve tried to shape my career around it.
What did you study in school and how did it impact you personally and professionally?
I studied History and International Relations at Muhlenberg College and then Security Studies with a concentration in U.S. National Security Policy at Georgetown. I quickly internalized the maxim that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and the idea that no problem exists in a vacuum. Personally, it made me wish more people studied history. I think more people would understand that our best moments as a nation and a world are when we come together. Professionally, it stoked my hope that no problem is insurmountable and that I wanted my job to help make the world a little better than I found it.
What led you to a career in nuclear security?
A surprise internship. I was doing some research my last semester at Georgetown and came across the Nuclear Threat Initiative. I hadn’t ever really thought about nuclear security as a career before but I decided to take a chance and it was one of the best decisions I made. When that internship ended and an opportunity to join NNSA appeared, I jumped at it. A lot of that experience at NTI is what led me to becoming a speechwriter.
What is the best part about your job?
The chance to talk with the Administrator and other NNSA leadership. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a room with a higher collective IQ. It makes me realize how much I still have to learn and grow, but it also makes me confident in NNSA’s future.
What is your proudest accomplishment while supporting NNSA?
I got a call one morning that the National Ignition Facility (NIF) had achieved fusion ignition, and that we would have a press conference viewed around the globe in the next couple of days. I had to scramble to learn everything I could about NIF and what this meant for NNSA and the world, and then summarize it into just a few hundred words. It was exhausting and exhilarating all at once. In that moment I felt like a small part of history. What an amazing day.
Tell us something interesting about yourself.
I was on the varsity wrestling team in high school. It was always interesting to me that you compete together as a team, but your matches are individual. Your success is the team’s success and vice versa. It taught me some great lessons about hard work and teamwork. The practices were absolutely grueling though, I think I’ll leave that part in the past.
What advice would you have for anyone interested in a career in public service?
Take every opportunity that comes your way. Take a class that looks interesting. Apply for that internship or fellowship that relates to your field. You never know who you’re going to run into later on down the road. And always pay it forward. If someone took the time to have a coffee and chat with you when you were starting out, take the time to do the same with someone else. Good fortune always comes back around!
Who is someone that inspires you and why?
Since it’s Jewish Heritage Month I’ll go with Moses Maimonides. He faced a lot of adversity in his life, and more than his fair share of sorrow, but that did not stop him from achieving his dreams. He’s a near unparalleled scholar in Jewish thought and served as personal physician for Saladin. There’s a statue of him in Cordoba, Spain, where people rub his foot for good luck.
How do you plan to commemorate Jewish American Heritage Month?
A really good bagel with lox and cream cheese.