[5] She is the former CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), serving from January 2018 until early 2019, and is also the Brady-Johnson distinguished practitioner in grand strategy at Yale University and a member of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy.

[19] From 2003 to 2005, Nuland served as the principal Deputy National Security Adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney,[20] exercising an influential role during the Iraq War.

[28][29][30][31][32][33] The call followed an offer made on January 25, 2014, by Ukrainian president Yanukovych to include two members of the opposition in his government to calm the Maidan protests in Ukraine, one being that of his prime minister.

[29][30] Nuland suggested the United Nations, rather than the European Union, should be involved in a full political solution, adding "fuck the EU".

[41] While serving as the Department of State's lead diplomat on the Ukraine crisis, Nuland pushed European allies to take a harder line on Russian expansionism.

[42] During a June 7, 2016, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing titled "Russian Violations of Borders, Treaties, and Human Rights", Nuland described U.S. diplomatic outreach to the former Soviet Union and efforts to build a constructive relationship with Russia.

During her testimony, Nuland noted de facto 2014 Russian intervention of Ukraine which she said, "shattered any remaining illusions about this Kremlin's willingness to abide by international law or live by the rules of the institutions that Russia joined at the end of the Cold War.

"[43] Nuland left the State Department in January 2017, amid the departure of many other career officials during the early days of the Trump administration.

[44] On January 24, 2018, The Washington Post published an interview with Nuland where she opined on the work of President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Nuland also decried a trend towards American isolationism, stating: "When we withdraw and say it's every nation for itself, you open the door for countries dissatisfied with their territorial position and influence in the international system—or with the system itself."

She said that the US and Europe should be "defense and security partners" of India, and that Russia's invasion of Ukraine presents a "major inflection point in the autocratic-democratic struggle.

"[53] In a February 2024 interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Nuland advocated for congressional approval of a $95.34 billion aid package, which is also designated for Ukraine, by delivering the following remarks: "We have to remember that the bulk of this money is going right back into the U.S., to make those weapons.

[55][8] Nuland's husband, Robert Kagan, is a historian, foreign policy commentator at the Brookings Institution, and co-founder in 1998 of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC).