# Nellie Ohr — Open Source Works + Fusion start; Talbott Yale vs State exit

Locked pins for write-from. Know only what the paper says.

## Nellie Ohr — Open Source Works

**Primary:** House Judiciary / Oversight transcribed interview, **19 October 2018** (Judicial Watch PDF banked: `nellie-ohr-testimony-2018-10-19.pdf` / `.txt`).

- Mitre (part-time contractor via Mitre’s U.S. Government clients): from **2000** through **most of 2008**.
- Then: **“starting in 2008, I worked for Open Source Works.”**
- She does **not** give an end date for Open Source Works on the record.
- Independent contractor, not a direct agency employee (“Not directly… As an independent contractor”).
- Resume line she describes: independent contractor in support of U.S. Government; she does **not** name CIA/NSA on the resume.

**2014 underemployment (same interview):** when asked about ham radio, she says she is **guessing 2015** for the licence, then: **“in 2014, I was underemployed, and I had some time”** (CERT / ham class). That is her own underemployment pin for 2014 — not an explicit “I left OSW in 2014.”

**Secondary (not sworn end-date):** Markets Work / LinkedIn reconstructions put OSW roughly **2008–2014** (~six years). AIM / LinkedIn-style lists sometimes print **Sep 2008 – Sep 2014**. Treat as secondary clothes on the gap she left open in testimony. Do **not** write “she testified six years” — she testified start 2008 and no end.

Author picture that works: contractor for Open Source Works from **2008**; by **2014** she is underemployed (her words); by **Sept 2015** she is cold-calling Fusion.

## Nellie Ohr — Fusion GPS start

**Her sworn dates (same interview):**

- Approached Fusion: **“I believe it was in September of 2015”** — read a paper article naming Glenn Simpson; emailed him; he said come in.
- Work dates: **“Approximately, October of 2015, give or take a couple weeks, and into the end of September, 2016.”**
- $55/hour, ~30 hours/week, from home.
- Nobody approached her; she approached them.
- HSGAC CFH timeline: **Oct. 2015: Fusion GPS hires Nellie Ohr** — matches her October pin.

**September vs October:** September = first contact / approach. October (± a couple of weeks) = hire / start of paid work. Keep both. Do not flatten to “hired September.”

## Strobe Talbott — State exit vs Yale

**State:** Deputy Secretary of State **23 February 1994 – 19 January 2001** (LittleSis / Wikipedia term dates; Brookings CV: **1994–2001** Deputy Secretary). Last full day of Clinton administration = **19 Jan 2001**. He is **not** at Yale as director while still Deputy Secretary.

**Yale Center for the Study of Globalization:**

- Talks with Levin from **November 1999**; public announcement / recruitment **November 2000** (Yale Daily News 20 Apr 2001; Yale Alumni Magazine Nov 2001) — while he is still at State.
- Formal start as founding director: **July 2001** (Yale Bulletin & Calendar: “will begin work in July 2001 as director”).
- Brookings CV: **2001–2002** Founding Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.
- Arrives on campus for the work at the start of the **September 2001** academic year (Yale Alumni Magazine Nov 2001).

**Verdict on soft “at Yale in 2000”:** **2000** is recruitment / announcement year, **not** the year he sits as director. He leaves State **19 Jan 2001**; director chair starts **July 2001**. Do not write him teaching/directing at Yale in calendar 2000. Soft lock “~2000 Yale / Sullivan under Talbott” needs a separate Sullivan pin — Talbott’s own calendar does not put him in the director’s chair until mid-2001.

## Files

- Testimony PDF/TXT: `/workspace/ch15-sources/nellie-ohr-testimony-2018-10-19.pdf` (+ `.txt`)
- This pin sheet: `/workspace/ch15-sources/nellie-ohr-osw-fusion-talbott-yale.md`

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## Jake Sullivan under Talbott at Yale (pin found 2026-09-09)

**Sullivan’s own framing (WaPo Greg Jaffe, Twin Cities reprint 14 Jul 2017):**

> There was Strobe Talbott, who runs the Brookings Institution. In 2000, when Sullivan was starting law school, Talbott had just been **chosen** to lead the newly formed Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. “Those were the heady days when the mainstream foreign policy consensus was that globalization was a force for good,” Sullivan recalled. He had **sought out Talbott** after learning that they had both been Rhodes scholars and edited the Yale Daily News.

Same language in National Post / Think Tank Watch extracts of that piece.

**Worked for him (career bios, not payroll):**

- Foreign Policy / The Cable, 25 Jan 2011 (Josh Rogin): “While at Yale, he worked for current Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.”
- Wikipedia (cites that Cable piece): same.
- Politico Magazine, 19 Feb 2024: while at Yale Law, Sullivan sought out Talbott, “who had recently been named the director”; Talbott became a mentor.

**Calendar weld (do not flatten):**

| Beat | Date |
| --- | --- |
| Sullivan starts Yale Law | **2000** (JD **2003**; YDN: ’98 LAW ’03) |
| Talbott **chosen**/announced for YCSG | **November 2000** (still Deputy Secretary) |
| Sullivan seeks him out | framed as **2000** (start of law school + “just been chosen”) |
| Talbott leaves State | **19 January 2001** |
| Talbott begins as founding director | **July 2001** |
| Talbott leaves Yale for Brookings | **summer 2002** |
| Sullivan Associate World Fellow | **2002** (inaugural class; World Fellows announced with the Center in Nov 2000; Brooke Shearer founding director) |

**Write-from lock:** Soft bank “~2000 Yale / Sullivan under Talbott” = the **seek** year in Sullivan’s mouth (starting YLS; Talbott **chosen**, not yet sitting). Actual “worked for Talbott at the Center” lives under the director chair: **July 2001–summer 2002**, while Sullivan is at Yale Law. Do **not** write Talbott directing at Yale in calendar 2000. Hole: no payroll / exact RA start month found — only Sullivan’s seek language + FP “worked for.”

**Direction:** Sullivan sought Talbott (protege join). Talbott mentor. Not reverse.