Hook received a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of St. Thomas in 1990, a master's degree in philosophy from Boston College, and a law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law.
Career
Hook is the founder of Latitude, LLC, an international consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He serves on the advisory board of Beacon Global Strategies. Hook worked on the 2012 Romney campaign staff as senior advisor on foreign policy. He chaired the foreign policy and national security task forces of the Romney Readiness Project. He was the foreign policy director of Governor Tim Pawlenty's presidential campaign from 2010-2011. In 2013, he co-founded the John Hay Initiative, an anti-isolationist group intended to inform political leaders about foreign policy. In 2018 Pompeo set up the Iran Action Group to coordinate and run U.S. policy toward Iran with Hook as its head. Hook serves on the board of trustees for St. John's Seminary in Boston and the board of directors for the National Civic Art Society in Washington, DC.
Controversy
Hook has been involved in a controversy regarding alleged mistreatment of state department employees that was ultimately investigated by Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State. Under federal human resources regulations, career employees at the State Department must be evaluated and managed on the basis of merit. Discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or perceived political beliefs is prohibited. When one of Hook's employees was inaccurately attacked in a conservative news outlet, Hook refused to help her clear up the inaccurate information and instead removed her from her role. The OIG noted that Hook had sent an email to himself commenting on various career employees with labels such as “leaker,” “troublemaker,” and “turncoat.” While Ulrich Brechbuhl, Counselor of the United States Department of State, disputed the report’s findings related to the employee's mistreatment, stating that Hook acted appropriately in creating his own team, the OIG concluded that the career employee had been unfairly targeted by Trump administration appointees, and recommended that the State Department should discipline staff members and officials who violated non-discrimination policies. In response, Brechbuhl noted that there is now a department requirement for all political appointees to receive instruction related to required personnel policies and practices. In the meantime a separate department, United States Office of Special Counsel, with jurisdiction over personnel matters throughout the executive branch, is undertaking its own review of the situation in question.
