Brett McGurk is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Brett McGurk was a nonresident senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
McGurk recently served as special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS at the U.S. Department of State. He helped build and then led the coalition of seventy-five countries and four international organizations and was responsible for coordinating all aspects of U.S. policy in the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria, and globally.
McGurk previously served in senior positions in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, including as Special Assistant to President Bush and Senior Director for Iraq and Afghanistan, and then as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran and Special Presidential Envoy for the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State under Obama.
McGurk has led some of the most sensitive diplomatic missions in the Middle East over the last decade, including negotiations with partners and adversaries to advance U.S. interests. His most recent assignment established one of the largest coalitions in history to prosecute the counter–Islamic State campaign in Iraq and Syria. He was a frequent visitor to the battlefields in both countries to help integrate military and civilian components of the campaign.
In 2015 and 2016, McGurk led 18 months of secret negotiations with Iran to secure the release of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezain, U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, and Pastor Saad Abadini, as well as three other American citizens. He is credited with restoring diplomatic relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia after three decades of frozen ties, and helping to facilitate the formation of the last two Iraqi governments following contested elections in 2014 and 2018.
During his time at the State Department, McGurk received multiple awards, including the Distinguished Honor Award and the Distinguished Service Award, the highest department awards for exceptional service in Washington and overseas assignments.
McGurk will also serve at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies as the Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer.
Former special presidential envoy is concerned that the Trump administration’s refusal to start a formal transition with the Biden team is hurting our national security.
A discussion of the broad challenges in foreign policymaking and the challenges in constructing an effective long-term plan for Syria.
The United States should be the convening authority and coordinator of a response to a global threat now taking the lives of its own citizens.
The Trump White House runs a foreign policy with irreconcilable objectives, no internal coherence, and no pretense of gaming out critical decisions before they are taken.
There is concern about where the escalation between the U.S. and Iran will go. That is not something that the Trump adminstratin appears to not have been prepared for.
The assumption underlying the Iran policy is that by putting maximum pressure on Iran, that will ultimately bring Iran back to the negotiating table. The counterassumption was that, actually, that approach might lead to even worse and more provocative behavior.
The United States has a special obligation to those who supported or fought alongside American forces, particularly when their plight is so directly tied to American decisions.
Trump deserves full credit for approving the operation that led to Baghdadi’s demise. It’s a shame the information that led to the raid apparently did not come to him before the tragic decision to abruptly pull U.S. Special Forces from much of northeastern Syria.
A discussion of President Trump's latest actions and comments on Turkey and Syria.
Join the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
