Vice President Joe Biden’s chief national security adviser moonlights as a disc jockey under the nickname "Ph.DJ," sources tell the Washington Free Beacon.
Colin Kahl, who left his position at Georgetown University to become Biden’s top national security aide last month, is reportedly a fixture behind the turntable at wonky foreign policy parties.
In a photo sent to the Free Beacon and others posted to the Washington Life website, Kahl can be seen intently working his DJ booth at a house bash hosted by Vali Nasr, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies.
In one photo, he flashes a "peace sign" while getting some kudos from the Center for American Progress’s Vikram Singh.
Another picture shows Kahl "raising the roof" behind his mix table, while one unidentified man in a suit stares blankly in the background and another checks his smart phone.
Kahl’s appointment as Biden’s national security adviser drew some criticism from foreign policy hawks, due to a paper he wrote in 2013 that outlined the case for containing Iran’s nuclear program. He was also reportedly involved in the decision to remove "Jerusalem" from the Democratic Party’s platform in 2012.
While his foreign policy proposals have come under fire, his DJ skills have drawn praise in Washington’s national security circles.
During a June 2011 conference, Center for a New American Security CEO Nathaniel Fick announced that the think tank’s upcoming gala dinner would feature "a dance party led by DJ Colin Kahl."
"I saw Colin get General Petraeus and his wife out on the dance floor, so we have high hopes," raved Flick.
Petraeus reportedly began an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell a few months later, which ultimately led to his resignation from the CIA.
Others were less enthusiastic about Kahl’s performances.
"Kahl is kind of a db," wrote one analyst at intelligence firm Stratfor in October 2010, according to internal emails published by WikiLeaks.
"He was my prof. Was telling Marko about how he DJs in his spare time (house.)," the analyst added. "His DJ name in the early '90s was DJ CK1, ahhahaha. (get it, his initials and that horrible calvin klein perfume that everyone wore in the '90s)."
Another Stratfor staffer responded that he had recently seen Kahl give a speech about Iran, and wished he had known about his DJ background at the time.
"I regret that I didn't ask him what his favorite band was," wrote the Stratfor staffer. "Probably would have been a more interesting response than his take on Iran."
The Free Beacon has reached out to Kahl with a list of questions about this new development and is awaiting a response.