Kounalakis was born on December 1, 1956, in San Francisco to Greek immigrants. His mother Vasiliki Rozakis, was born in Chania, Crete, Greece.[6] His father, Antonios Markos Kounalakis,[7] was an underground guerrilla fighter against the Nazis on the island of Crete during World War II; he fought with Constantine Mitsotakis, who later became Prime Minister of Greece. Antonios and Vasiliki arrived in the United States as beneficiaries of the displaced persons refugee program and sponsored by the World Council of Churches.[8][9][10][11]
Kounalakis received a public education in the San Francisco Bay Area and earned his bachelor's degree in political science at the University of California, Berkeley in 1978. He received his MSc in journalism from Columbia University in 1988. Kounalakis earned a PhD in international relations/political science from the Central European University in 2016.[12]
In 1988-1989, Kounalakis was a Robert Bosch Foundation fellow in Europe, attending the Bundesakademie für öffentliche Verwaltung in Bonn, Germany in 1988 and the École Nationale d'Administration in Paris, France in 1989. In 1995-1996, Kounalakis was an International Journalism Graduate Fellow at the University of Southern California and El Colegio de México in Mexico City. As an international journalism graduate fellow, he also spent time in Guatemala (1995) and Cuba (1996). In the early 1980s, he attended the International Graduate School at Stockholm University, Sweden, where he studied international relations and became a fluent Swedish speaker.[13]
Career
Academics
Between 2003 and 2009, Kounalakis was a regular Hoover Institution Media Fellow and has been a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University since September 2013.[5] Since 2010, he has been a Senior Fellow at the Center for Media, Data and Society at Central European University.[14] In 2017, he became a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oregon-UNESCO Crossings Institute for Intercultural Dialogue and Conflict Sensitive Reporting.[15]
Along with Ray Suarez, he co-hosts the WorldAffairs podcast and syndicated radio program.[19] He co-anchored with Peter Laufer the nationally syndicated weekly political program, Washington Monthly on the Radio.[20] In 2019, he won a SPJ Sunshine State Award for his foreign affairs commentary and criticism.[21]
He served as vice chairman of the board of advisors at the Southeast Europe Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and was a trustee of the World Affairs Council of Northern California.[23] He also chaired Internews Network from 2002 to 2004 and was vice chairman of the California State World Trade Commission from 2001 to 2003. In 2003, he chaired a multinational reconstruction conference in Athens. Since 2020, he has been a trustee of The Asia Foundation.[24] In September 2024, he joined the International Advisory Council of GLOBSEC.[25][26]
Technology
In 1995, Kounalakis became the executive producer for Visible Interactive, a start-up technology company that used Newton handheld devices for immersive interpretive experiences in venues like the Smithsonian Institution museums.[27] He later became the executive communications strategist at Silicon Graphics.[28][29]
Views
Russia - A state sponsor of terror
Kounalakis was an early outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin's authoritarian turn. Following the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 and killing of 298 people in July 2014, he stated that "Russia is now clearly a state sponsor of terror."[30]
His many columns identified Putin’s ambitions and warned that the Russian president’s unchallenged killings at home[31] as well as extraterritorial aggression and murders would increase in frequency and scale.[32] In 2018, Kounalakis asserted that Putin used Russia’s oil and gas as a strategic weapon against the West and that “instead of punishing bad behavior, however, the world has both financially rewarded Putin and shown him new incentives to continue his aggression — both at home and in Ukraine.”[33]
Ukraine & nukes
Ukraine’s vulnerability to Russian aggression was called out in his multiple columns identifying Kyiv’s deterrence weakness as well as threats to global nuclear disarmament He argued that “the U.S., NATO and others must do what it takes to prove a nation like Ukraine can remain sovereign even though it gave up weapons of mass destruction.[34]
Energy Security
In 2019, after a strong electoral showing by Germany’s Green Party Kounalakis wrote that the party’s antipathy to nuclear energy and coal plants was a laudable environmental move but put the country – and Europe – in a vulnerably dependent position regarding energy security.[35]
China - Opium war & fentanyl
In 2017, Kounalakis identified early that fentanyl was a cheap and lethal street drug and cutting agent emanating from China, strategically targeting vulnerable American citizens. He characterized this as a People's Republic of China's chemical attack on the United States and wrote that this deployment and non-kinetic warfare tactic was "China's 21st century Opium War against America".[36]
Spin Wars - FARA & CCTV/CGTN/RT
Kounalakis's 2018 book, "Spin Wars & Spy Games: Global Media and Intelligence Gathering" (Hoover Institution Press) warned open systems and democratic societies that Russian and Chinese global media organizations use their foreign bureaus as both diplomatic outposts and spy nests. Russia Today (RT), China Global Television Network (CGTN), and Xinhua were organizations he suggested be registered under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). His book provided the data, insights, and policy prescriptions supporting this policy.[37]
$100 bill
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Kounalakis wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the United States should "Immediately stop circulating and honoring $100 bills in Russia" in order to foment discontent amongst average Russians, who hold the currency as security. His recommendation was also intended to harm international drug cartels.[38][39]
California
Kounalakis argues that California, despite being the most populous and economically influential state in the U.S., is significantly underrepresented in shaping foreign policy in Congress.[40] He highlights the absence of Californians on key Senate committees such as Armed Services, Foreign Relations, and Intelligence, which are crucial for foreign policy decisions.[41][42]
Personal life
Kounalakis married Eleni Tsakopoulos in Istanbul in 2000. The couple has two sons.[43] His wife served as the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary until 2013 and won her election in 2018 and her re-election in for Lieutenant Governor of California, taking office in January 2019.[44] She is also running for the role of California governor in 2026.[45]
Like his father, Kounalakis was a blue-collar construction worker who maintains his Class A heavy equipment truck drivers license.[46]
