Kevin Harrington

Education and early career Harrington graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and physics from the University of Idaho. He is noted as having served as the senior class president in a 1995 Stanford news release. Harrington has been credited as a co-author of the original business plan for PayPal. Harrington said, "Peter is my foil, and I’m his foil."

In February 2017, Harrington was appointed by the White House as deputy assistant to the President for strategic planning, serving the National Security Council. A number of sources link the role of Harrington's and some other tech-associated figures in the government with Thiel's influence, Palantir, and the broader alignment of the data-driven tech industry and politics. In 2018, commenting on Michael Kratsios and Harrington's appointments, TriplePundit writes that, "Combined with the Palantir activity, all of this seems to indicate no small degree of conflict between Thiel’s role in business and his influence on US policy making."

In Trump's second term, Harrington again serves on the NSC as senior director. In September 2025, Politico reported that Harrington "is departing his role as NSC senior director for strategic planning, where he was helping to oversee the finishing touches on Trump’s new National Security Strategy." A White House official stated that Harrington would transition to the Department of Defense, though his specific role was not disclosed. ) described Harrington's role as part of a broader "nationalist-conservative", "Christian-traditionalist" and anti-China alignment within Trump's foreign policy apparatus, which is also connected to the strategic placement of "Thiel acolytes" in key national security positions. The outlet writes that, "there are no right-wing realists on the NSC."