Dennis Ross

Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Central Region (since June 2009)

(Washington
Institute of Near East Policy)

Why He Matters

No one knows the highs and lows of diplomacy better than Ross.

He spent 12 years in the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations trying to create a permanent agreement between the governments of Israel and the Palestinian territories, only to see the talks disintegrate in 2000.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Special envoy to the gulf and southwest Asia (since Feb. 2009); Counselor and Ziegler distinguished fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (since 2001); Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton (1993 to 2001)
Birthday: Nov. 26, 1948
Hometown: Marin County, Calif.

Alma Mater: UCLA, B.A.; UCLA, M.A.
Religion: Jewish
Web site

Path to Power

Ross was born in San Francisco and grew up in Marin County, Calif. He was raised by a Jewish mother and Catholic step-father.

He received both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied political science and the Soviet Union. While a student, he volunteered on the presidential campaigns of Democratic Sens. Robert Kennedy and George McGovern.

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Though he was not religious growing up, Ross said the 1967 Middle East war strengthened his Jewish identity. He told the Washington Monthly "intrinsically, I believed Israel had a right to exist" though he later also came to see that country's policy of building settlements in the West Bank as "wrong and misguided."

Washington Veteran

In 1981, he was named to President Ronald Reagan's national security staff as the director of Near East and South Asian Affairs. He left that appointment to serve as executive director of the Berkeley-Stanford program on Soviet International Behavior from 1984 through 1986.

He was the director of the State Department's Policy Planning Office during President George H. W. Bush's term. In that role, Ross worked with Secretary of State James Baker to convince Arab and Israeli leaders to attend a Middle East peace conference in Madrid.

Soon after Bill Clinton was sworn in as president in 1993, he appointed Ross to the position of Middle East coordinator, making Ross the top negotiator for peace between Israel and Palestinian territories. During the years-long ordeal that followed, Ross was constantly on call, often excusing himself early from family holidays and attempting to negotiate a truce.

He was able to obtain a handful of provisional agreements, including one convincing Israeli troops to withdraw from some West Bank cities. But he could not achieve a permanent agreement.

Some, including former President Jimmy Carter and Obama supporter Dan Kurtzer, have accused Ross of being pro-Israel in the negotiations. In his book The Missing Peace, Ross acknowledged that he was often the strongest defender of Israel's positions.

After he left government in 2000, Ross headed up Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a hawkish think tank with a pro-Israeli bent. His close association with pro-Israeli organizations has caused some to speculate that he was out of the negotiating business for good.

He has taught at Brandeis University, Georgetown University and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He founded the Kol Shalom synagogue in Rockville Md. with New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman in 2002.

Obama Adviser

Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign called Ross in April 2007 to ask for his advice on the Middle East. Ross told Obama foreign policy adviser Anthony Lake that he was happy to talk to Democrats on a non-exclusive basis. But the Obama campaign called Ross more than anyone else, he said, and he soon took a position as its official adviser.

Ross's addition was seen by many as a way for Obama to shore up his support among Jewish voters. He helped write Obama's AIPAC address.

Ross accompanied Obama on a trip to Israel, after meeting with leaders in advance to ensure that Obama's discussions went smoothly. In the weeks after the election, senior Israeli officials continued to contact Ross to discuss the country's priorities and their hopes for the new administration.

Ross was initially appointed as a special envoy to the State Department. But in June 2009, he was moved to the White House as special assistant to the president and senior director for the central region. In that position, he will work on policy for Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. The move was widely seen as a promotion.

The Issues

Ross preaches the importance of statecraft, which involves diplomacy, occasional military action and a "well-planned temper tantrum."

He has criticized the George W. Bush administration's policy of using negotiations as a "reward for good behavior" and is generally supportive of attempting talks with state actors, though he has said it is important to carefully consider whether to "legitimize non-state actors by sitting down with them."

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Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

Ross is an expert on peace negotiations, and he has argued that the U.S. must be more consistently involved in drafting a deal between the two governments. He believes reopening the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian territories must be a top priority for Obama.

Ross believes that the next negotiator should tie Israeli withdrawals to promises of future peace in that location, so that any time Israeli forces withdraw from an area in Gaza or the West Bank, Palestinians take responsibility for preventing violence there.

He is opposed to unilateral withdrawal and argues that when Israel left Lebanon unilaterally in 2000, Hezbollah only grew stronger.

He has opposed setting a timeline for the creation of a Palestinian state.

He is supportive of efforts to begin peace talks with Syria over the Golan Heights region, and says that Washington should consider offering "significant" economic incentives to the country in order to prevent it from forming an alliance with Iran.

He supports Israel's right to build a wall to protect itself, though he believes the building should be temporary and should impact Palestinians as little as possible.

Iran

Ross believes Iran is one of the biggest threats to U.S. interests, and that they must be stopped from "going nuclear."

In a Newsweek piece, Ross wrote that "Iran has continued to pursue nuclear weapons because the Bush administration hasn't applied enough pressure - or offered Iran enough rewards for reversing course."

Ross supports a dual-pronged strategy of increasing diplomatic engagement while at the same time strengthening sanctions to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. He has called on the Obama administration to sanction things that would affect the broader economy, like natural gas.

He has called for incorporating Saudi Arabia and other countries in the peace process.

Iraq

Though Ross was initially in favor of the war with Iraq, he now supports a withdrawal from the country. He has called U.S. presence there "unsustainable" and would like to see some of the troops now in Iraq invested in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a position Obama expressed often during the presidential campaign.

The Network

In his White House position, Ross will work closely with old friend Thomas Donilon.

On the campaign trail, Ross traveled frequently with Daniel Shapiro, Daniel Kurtzer, a lifelong diplomat, and Jewish vote director Eric Lynn.

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Additional Resources