Dennis Ross Moves to NSC ¶ A Hawk Within?

“National Security Advisor General James Jones is pleased to announce an addition to our already strong National Security Staff. The addition is in the important Central Region that encompasses the Middle East, the Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Asia. Gen. Jones is in the midst of a several day trip to this important region.

Dennis Ross will become Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region with overall responsibility for the region.  He will work with Don Camp, Senior Director for South Asia, Lt. Gen. Doug Lute, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Adviser and Coordinator for Afghanistan-Pakistan, Dan Shapiro, Senior Director for Near East and North Africa, and Puneet Talwar, Senior Director for the Gulf States, Iran and Iraq.”

Of Ross’s announced title — special assistant to the president and senior director on the central region — a Hill foreign policy aide said, “I give them credit for inventing an entirely new term in international affairs — ‘the Central Region.’ Interesting the phrase ‘work with’ as opposed to ‘supervise.'”

National Security Advisor Jim Jones and Deputy National Security Advisor Tom Donilon both have the rank of assistant to the president. NSC Director of Strategic Communications Denis McDonough and Chief of Staff Mark Lippert have the rank of deputy assistant to the president. Ross, along with Lute, will have the rank of special assistant to the president. Daniel Shapiro, Puneet Talwar, and Don Camp have senior director status, but not the rank of special assistant to the president that Ross will have.

The White House official confirmed that, as previously reported, the Iraq portfolio is now being moved from Lute’s chain of command to that of Talwar and Ross above him.

WASHINGTON DC (The Forward) — The promotion of Middle East adviser Dennis Ross to a senior White House position may open the door to a more positive tone by the United States toward the Israeli government, experts believe.

Ross, a veteran peace negotiator, is well known for his strong ties with Israel and his past work with a Jewish think tank [Washington Institute for Near East Policy]. In his previous post as a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ross’s responsibilities were limited to the Southwest Asia region with a focus on Iran.

“It’s clear that if Obama wants to advance something on Iran, and on the Israeli-Palestinian front, he will need to reach a modus vivendi with Israel, and that will require someone who knows the Israelis well,” said Aaron David Miller, a former peace negotiator who has written extensively on attempts by the United States to promote Middle East peace. Miller called Ross’s appointment “smart policy and smart politics,” and noted it would “put someone who understands Israel in a position close to the president.”

OPPOSING VIEWS FOR ARGUMENT’S SAKE

Ross has refrained thus far from communicating with the organized Jewish community as a whole. While Mitchell has been speaking routinely with Jewish groups, Ross was taking a more behind-the-scenes role. Still, he is a well-known figure in the Jewish community and is widely appreciated for his pragmatic approach to peacemaking.

“The most commendable thing about Dennis Ross is that, unlike some other alumni of the Clinton era, Ross is not locked into outdated views which are a function of ideology. He consistently allows reality to affect and shape his analysis,” said Nathan Diament, director of the Institute for Public Affairs of the Orthodox Union, a group that is ideologically close to the settler movement.

Based on their previous work and statements, Ross and Mitchell represent different approaches to the conflict: Mitchell has a strong belief that an agreement is possible, based on his successful experience in Northern Ireland, while Ross brings a more skeptical approach based on three decades of fruitless negotiations in the Middle East.

Dennis Ross Chairman of Israeli Government Funded Think Tank

(EnduringAmerica.com) – Last week the Washington Institute for Near East Policy released its latest report on Iran, “Preventing a Cascade of Instability: U.S. Engagement to Check Iranian Nuclear Progress” . At its heart is a wonderful if dangerous (and unacknowledeged) tension. The influential think-tank thunders:

An Iran on the brink of possessing, or actually possessing, nuclear weapons would create a multitude of problems in the Middle East. Not only would the United States have to deter and contain an emboldened Iran, it could also have to forestall a cascade of destabilizing reactions by other states, whether they were to accommodate Iran, attack it, or match its capabilities. Preventing Iran’s acquisition or development of a military nuclear capability is therefore a vital national priority.

Yet, in the next breath, WINEP declares that the purpose of blocking Iran’s “nuclear progress” (not “nuclear weapons” but “progress” towards any nuclear energy capability) is not defensive but ensure Washington remakes the region in its desired image:

Confronting the Iran nuclear program also offers other opportunities to advance U.S. interests: to demonstrate U.S. commitment to multilateral diplomacy, to deepen U.S. relationships with its Middle East friends, and to strengthen the global nonproliferation regime.

Washington Institute for Near East Policy 2006 Report: Dealing with a Nuclear Iran (pdf)