Public service is an act of faith

College of LAS alumnus Adham Sahloul (BA, political science, ’15) is a national security expert and U.S. Navy Reserve officer. Most recently, he served as a special advisor appointed by the Biden-Harris Administration at the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Defense. With ties to Chicago, Sahloul is based in Washington, D.C., where he lives with his wife Dr. Diana Rayes, a public health scholar, and their toddler son.

In hindsight, what about college best prepared you for your life and career?

Having a global research university in America’s heartland brought perspectives from across Illinois, the country, and the world to campus. College also taught me that with international relations “theory will only take you so far”--to quote Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” The opportunities I had to conduct research in the field or build experience as a policy professional in Washington were key to gaining a better understanding of the world and America’s evolving place in it.

How did your major prepare you for life following graduation?

As a political science major, I participated in the Illinois in Washington program, a semester in D.C. As a sophomore in that program, I interned at the Brookings Institution, a research institution solving some of the most difficult challenges at the heart of national security and government. I learned so much from leaders bridging the gap between academic research and the ideas that are made into legislation, policy, or the president’s speeches. Some of those leaders have been mentors to me throughout my career.

After my sophomore year, I took a summer study abroad course in Egypt led by education policy, organization, and leadership professor Linda Herrera, where classmates and I met Arab Spring student activists in Cairo and Alexandria. The class, which was in the summer of 2013, was cut short when the military overthrew the democratically-elected government. We had to evacuate. A year after graduating, when I was working in the humanitarian field in Turkey, a military coup was attempted against the Turkish government. I learned very early on just how fragile democracy is– “a republic, if you can keep it,” as one of our founders, Benjamin Franklin, put it. And that you should probably have a backup plan in case you’re an American caught in the middle of a coup. The reality is that the events we see on news headlines, and decisions made in places like Washington, D.C., affect real people.

What is an example of the most interesting aspect of your job?

I can share a little bit about what it means to be a former political appointee now that I’m taking a break from having a typical workday. My time in government ended at 11:59 a.m. Jan. 20, 2025 – Inauguration Day. On that day, the few of us who advised and led the departments and agencies across our government— from the Pentagon and the Peace Corps to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs– were replaced by a select number of members of the Trump-Vance Administration. Since then, many civil servants, from young diplomats fresh out of college to 4-star generals and admirals have been dismissed with significant impact on our government, national security, and daily lives.

My first role in the Biden-Harris Administration was helping staff and advising the presidential appointees across the Pentagon– the world’s largest and certainly one of the most important organizations. I learned a lot from officials of all walks of life from the Secretary of the Navy to the Pentagon’s Middle East chief–about what it means to lead. Most of all: if you aren’t moved by the responsibility and privilege of public service, and the people you lead, and the American people who count on you to be on top of your game, you’re in the wrong business.

What do you enjoy most about your work? What part of your work aligns with your personal values?

Public service is, in a way, an act of faith– faith in something bigger than yourself, faith in your neighbors, faith in your inherent ability to do good. I was raised in a Muslim household, where we’re taught the Abrahamic ideal that if you save one life, you’ve saved the entire world. If we’re moving the needle in any way, that’s a day well spent for public servants on the federal, state, and local levels. Having become a father very recently– and seeing the world through my son’s eyes–the work feels especially monumental, as we’re in the business of making the future more livable, secure, and humane for those who will inherit it.

Do you have a hobby or volunteer service that you enjoy? When did you start, and why?

I’m a proud U.S. Navy Reserve officer. I was commissioned in 2021, and graduated from Officer Development School in Newport, R.I., months later. My parents immigrated from Syria, a country that just liberated itself from a 50-plus-year-old dictatorship, the most brutal dictatorship of our time. This country gave my family freedom and opportunity. That’s why I grew up in a household that was busy launching humanitarian missions and refugee aid organizations or volunteering at the local mosque. Service to our community is in my family’s DNA. I’ve always said that if it wasn’t for the luck of the draw, I could have been in one of Syria’s notorious prisons and my family on one of the refugee boats in the Mediterranean. There’s a debt that I will continue paying for the rest of my life.

Editor's note: This is part of a series that features College of LAS alumni and their careers. Visit here to read more. The views shared here are the alumnus’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or the U.S. government.