U.S. Policy

Policy Analysis on U.S. Policy

Remarks by Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor

Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough believes that the relationship between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is “workmanlike” and enables the two leaders to immediately address the important issues on their agendas. Speaking to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Weinberg Founders Conference, McDonough stated that

May 7, 2012

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Denis McDonough

Video

In-Depth Reports

U.S.-Israel Relations in a Changing Middle East

Ambassador Robert Blackwill, Ambassador Dennis Ross and Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin (IDF, ret.) said that Israel remains an important strategic asset for the United States. “The U.S. and Israel share key vital interests in a fast-changing region with multiple dangers and threats to both,” Ross said during a plenary session

May 7, 2012

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Dennis Ross
Amos Yadlin

Video

In-Depth Reports

Syria, U.S. Leadership, and the Direction of Change in the Middle East

Does the United States have a moral obligation to intervene militarily in Syria and, if so, when? That was question when three experts—Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Fouad Ajami, T, Washington bureau chief Peter David, and former U.S. envoy to Syria Ambassador Theodore Kattouf—addressed the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s

May 5, 2012

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Fouad Ajami
Peter David
Robert Satloff

Video

In-Depth Reports

After bin Laden: Is the War on Terror Over?

Counterterrorism experts Juan Zarate and Peter L. Bergen agreed that the nature of the war on terror has fundamentally shifted from the manner in which the U.S. strategically and tactically approached efforts against al-Qaeda after 9/11. “No politician is going to say it’s over, but people in our position maintain

May 5, 2012

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Peter L. Bergen
Juan Zarate

Video

In-Depth Reports

2012 Weinberg Founders Conference

Navigating the New 'New Middle East': Challenges for U.S. Policy

From May 4, through Sunday noon, May 6, The Washington Institute explored the full range of Middle East policy challenges at the 2012 Weinberg Founders Conference, which brought together policymakers, diplomats, journalists, experts, and private citizens for a lively weekend of discussion and debate. Watch plenary sessions of the conference

May 2, 2012

Brief Analysis

Combating Transnational Organized Crime

The Defense Department's deputy assistant secretary for counternarcotics and global threats addressed an off-the-record Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. The following is an excerpt from his prepared remarks. "The U.S. government has, for decades, dedicated significant resources to stemming the flow of illicit drugs into the United States, and

Apr 26, 2012

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William F. Wechsler

Articles & Testimony

Confronting Damascus: U.S. Policy toward the Evolving Situation in Syria, Part II

Chairman Chabot and Ranking Member Ackerman: Thank you for this opportunity to testify before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia on the situation in Syria and U.S. government efforts to force President Bashar al-Assad to "step aside," as outlined by President Obama in August 2011. During Part

Apr 25, 2012

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Andrew J. Tabler

Brief Analysis

Libya's Elections Need More U.S. Support

Despite trepidation over Libya's upcoming elections, they offer the best way to solve the country's legitimacy crisis, and Washington should tailor its assistance accordingly.

Apr 24, 2012

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Andrew Engel

Articles & Testimony

Taking Exception: Abu Zubaida's Clear Ties to al-Qaeda

In her March 29 op-ed, "Why not try Abu Zubaida?," lawyer Amanda L. Jacobsen argued that the reason the federal government has yet to charge her client after 10 years in U.S. custody is simple: "The government got it wrong." The government based its "hyperbolic assertions" about Abu Zubaida on

Apr 16, 2012

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Matthew Levitt

Articles & Testimony

Don't Throw Iran's Democrats under the Bus

In pursuing a nuclear deal with Tehran, Obama is betting against the future. You wouldn't know it from following the news, but the nuclear impasse is not the only issue dividing Iran and the United States. In his latest message to the Iranian people on the occasion of their festival

Apr 13, 2012

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Patrick Clawson

Should We Fear Mideast Nuclear Proliferation?

If Iran gets nuclear weapons, will other Middle East states want them too? In a bloggingheads.tv conversation, Matt Duss and Michael Singh explore the issues.

Apr 13, 2012

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Michael Singh

Brief Analysis

Bahrain on the Brink Jeopardizes U.S. Interests in the Gulf

The ethnic strife between majority Shiites and the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa family in Bahrain is worsening, with a growing risk that the U.S. naval base there could become contentious.

Apr 12, 2012

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Simon Henderson

Brief Analysis

The Challenge of Containing Iran's Enrichment Activities

With talks between the P5+1 (the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany) and Iran set to resume in Istanbul on April 13, officials are discussing possible compromises that might persuade Tehran to give up any ambition of developing nuclear weapons. Apparently, one of the principal components of these

Apr 12, 2012

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Simon Henderson
Olli Heinonen

Brief Analysis

What Iran Might Gain from a Nuclear Deal

If Iran decides to seriously negotiate during upcoming nuclear talks -- currently scheduled to begin this weekend in Istanbul -- what might it expect to gain from the resultant deal? Probably not much, because even a comprehensive agreement on nuclear issues would not close the profound geostrategic split between Washington

Apr 11, 2012

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Patrick Clawson

Articles & Testimony

Squandered Leverage over Iran

If Washington does not maintain pressure on Iran, it will validate the regime's strategy of defiance, provocation, and delay.

Apr 10, 2012

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Michael Singh

Video

Brief Analysis

Iraqi Kurdistan as U.S. Ally and Partner in the Middle East

On April 5, 2012, His Excellency Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. The following is a rapporteur's summary of his remarks. IRAQ'S INTERNAL POLITICAL CRISIS AND U.S. POLICY Despite a budding national political crisis originating from the consolidation of

Apr 10, 2012

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Masoud Barzani

Articles & Testimony

The Muslim Brotherhood's Mendacious Charm Campaign in Washington

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a Muslim Brotherhood delegation in Washington last week to better understand how the Islamist group will govern Egypt. It was a noble attempt at promoting intercultural political dialogue -- an engagement for which many in the American policy community, as well as academia

Apr 9, 2012

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Eric Trager

Brief Analysis

What Could Diplomacy with Iran Produce?

There can be little doubt that the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and China would all prefer a diplomatic outcome to the impasse over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Collectively, they make up the P5+1 mechanism that will soon resume negotiations with Iranian representatives. Talks were discontinued last year because Tehran's

Apr 5, 2012

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Dennis Ross

Brief Analysis

Dateline Middle East: Trip Reports from around the Region

On March 27, 2012, Robert Satloff, Andrew J. Tabler, and Simon Henderson addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Dr. Satloff, the Institute's executive director and Howard P. Berkowitz chair in U.S. Middle East policy, had just returned from Israel and Jordan. Mr. Tabler, the Institute's Next Generation fellow

Mar 29, 2012

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Robert Satloff
Andrew J. Tabler
Simon Henderson

Articles & Testimony

The Human Rights Crisis in Syria

Testimony prepared for the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. House of Representatives Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the Assad regime's brutal year-long crackdown on Syria's pro-democracy protestors. Throughout years as a journalist and analyst based in Damascus, I followed Tom Lantos's often-critical words on

Mar 28, 2012

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Andrew J. Tabler

Supported by the

Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East

The Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East focuses on the region as a setting for heightened competition between the United States and other world powers, such as China and Russia.

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Robert Satloff

Robert Satloff is the Segal Executive Director of The Washington Institute, a post he assumed in January 1993.

Dennis Ross

Dennis Ross, a former special assistant to President Barack Obama, is the counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute.

Michael Singh

Michael Singh is the Managing Director and Lane-Swig Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute.

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Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East

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Regions & Countries

Issues

U.S. Policy

Policy Analysis on U.S. Policy

Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East

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