Patrick C. Costello is a Partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Mercury Public Affairs, where he is a member of the firm’s bipartisan federal government relations practice and leads its think tank and thought leadership engagement portfolio. He advises corporations, sovereign governments, and nonprofit organizations on U.S. foreign policy, national security, international economic policy, and geopolitical risk, with a particular focus on translating complex policy environments into effective engagement strategies with Congress, the executive branch, and the broader Washington policy community.

Prior to joining Mercury, Costello served as Chief Executive Officer of the American Security Project, a bipartisan national security think tank, where he led the organization’s strategic direction, policy engagement, fundraising, and external affairs. Before that, he spent more than a decade at the Council on Foreign Relations, most recently as Director of Washington External Affairs, overseeing the Council’s engagement with Congress, the executive branch, and the diplomatic community while helping connect policymakers with leading scholarship on national security and international affairs.

Earlier in his career, Costello served on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant and deputy communications director to Congressman Jon Porter (R-NV), managing the Congressman’s foreign affairs, defense, trade, and international economic policy portfolio. He subsequently advised multinational companies, sovereign governments, and African institutions on international trade, investment, and public policy through roles at International Business-Government Counsellors and The Whitaker Group.

Costello is a recognized commentator and lecturer on U.S. foreign policy, economic statecraft, transatlantic security, Congress and the policymaking process, and the domestic politics of American foreign policy. Throughout his career, he has moderated more than 1,000 policy discussions featuring senior government officials, military leaders, diplomats, academics, and business executives, and regularly lectures to universities, professional audiences, and international delegations.

He earned bachelor’s degrees in History and Political Science from the University of Massachusetts, a graduate certificate in History and Politics from Exeter College, University of Oxford, and a Master of Arts with Merit in International Peace and Security from King’s College London. He has also completed graduate study in Strategic Security Studies at the National Defense University and executive education at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Costello is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a former Atlantik-Brücke Young Leader, a Hertog Foundation Fellow, a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Ketner School of Business at Catawba College, and serves on the Board of Directors of The Reckoning Project.