People in the news

Scott Gration

Ambassador to the Republic of Kenya nominee (since February 2011); Special Envoy to Sudan (since March 2009)

(Ashraf Shazly/
AFP/Getty Images)

Why He Matters

Gration was so taken with then-Senator Barack Obama that he retired from his Air Force job to join Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He has a long and distinguished military and foreign policy career that has taken him throughout the Middle East and into the halls of power in the Pentagon and the White House.

In 2009, he took on one of the most complicated human rights issues of Obama's presidency - the aftermath of the genocide in Darfur. The appointment came after weeks of attacks by aid groups, which charged Obama wasn't doing enough to address Sudan. But his reportedly conciliatory approach to the Sudanese government after a September 2009 trip there drew criticism in Washington as it began reviewing its policy towards the rogue regime.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Special Envoy to Sudan (since March 2009); Adviser to President Barack Obama (since 2006); Supreme Allied Command, NATO (2004 to 2005); Air Force assistant deputy undersecretary for international affairs (2003 to 2004)Birthday: N/A
Hometown: St. Charles, Ill.
Alma Mater: Rutgers University, B.A., 1974; Georgetown University, M.A. (security studies), 1988
Religion : N/A

Office : N/A
Email : N/A
Web site : N/A

Path to Power

Gration was born in St. Charles, Illinois.

He and his missionary parents moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo when Gration was just a year old. There, he learned to speak Swahili fluently. His family was evacuated three times during the Congo crisis, eventually becoming refugees.

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Gration studied at Rutgers University, where he served in the ROTC program. He graduated in 1974 and joined the United States Air Force in September, eventually graduating as captain. In 1980, he worked in Kenya as a flight instructor.

Political and Military Battlefield

Gration left the Air Force to work as a White House fellow a year later, working with Hans Mark, the deputy administrator of NASA. In 1985, he was hired to advise the Defense Department's Office of Regional Plans and Policy on international political and military affairs. He earned his master's in international affairs from Georgetown University simultaneously.

In 1988, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Air Force and moved to Turkey, where he flew and trained others.

He attended the National War College in 1992, and then returned to Washington to work for the National Security Council and as an executive officer to the Air Force chief of staff. In 1995, he returned to Turkey.

When a 1996 truck bomb ripped through an apartment complex housing U.S. personnel in Saudi Arabia, Gration was in command of the unit that lost 18 men and women.

In 1998, he was tasked with enforcing the no-fly zone over northern Iraq. He was promoted to Air Force brigadier-general in 1999.

In 2000, Gration returned to Washington as the deputy director for operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spent a year directing regional affairs for the Air Force deputy undersecretary for international affairs.

He was appointed Air Force assistant deputy under secretary for international affairs by President George W. Bush in August 2003 and plans and policy director of the U.S. European Command the next summer. In 2003, he commanded air operations during the Iraq war.

Meeting Obama

Gration first met Obama in 2005, when the former Senator spoke with him about the military's work in Europe, Eurasia and Africa. He told a reporter he was impressed by Obama's ability to "ask tough questions it was this same way of thinking that led him to get it right."

In 2006, he accompanied President Barack Obama on a two-week trip to five countries in Africa.

On the trip, the pair stopped in Kenya to meet with President Mwai Kibaki. Obama confronted Kibaki about the Kenyan government corruption. Later in the trip, the pair visited Robben Island in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated.

Gration told Newsweek that though he was a Republican, after the trip he decided to support Obama who, Gration said, used his diversity "to turn a page for America, not only to bring the country together, but to give us a different image externally."

A few weeks after the trip, Gration left his military position to join Obama's staff. He has spoken across the country, and his 13-town tour of Iowa is credited with helping Obama win the 2008 Democratic primary there.

He also helped Obama craft a highly-controversial counterterrorism speech in which he suggested that he would be willing to invade parts of Pakistan as President if the government would not help the United States root out terrorists.

He has won a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a Defense Superior Service Medal and 16 other awards.

The Issues

A fluent Swahili speaker who grew up in the Congo, Gration speaks frequently of the importance of improving the quality of lives for Africans by funding education, food development and job reform.

The Sudan

Since 2003, Darfur, a region in Sudan, has been in crisis. 300,000 residents were killed and millions displaced in one of the worst ethnic conflicts on the continent.

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Gration declared that the "coordinated killing" by the Sudanese government in Darfur is over at a briefing in June 2009. "What we see is the remnants of genocide," Gration told reporters at a briefing in Washington. An agreement was signed on August 19, 2009.

Gration has called on the Obama administration to incentivize participation by the Sudanese government in peace talks by lifting sanctions, a position that is controversial. He also worked to position himself as the principal negoatiator between the Sudanese government and its adversaries in Darfur, and is planning an international conference for September 2009.

The controversy erupted in September 2009 when the Washington Post reported that Gration was pushing for normalized relations with the rogue regime. "We've got to think about giving out cookies," to the government, Gration told the Post after a trip there. "Kids, countries -- they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement."

But the White House fiercely rejected the notion that it was ready to negotiate with, as the Post stated, the only country with a leader indicted for war crimes, contending the article "wildly misrepresents the policy discussions."

In October 2009, the White House released its official Sudan policy. It said it would maintain tough sanctions against the country, but would also provide incentives if the government cooperated with the U.S. and met specific benchmarks, which include ending gross human rights abuses, including genocide, in Darfur, implementing a peace agreement to end a war between northern and southern Sudan, and ensure that Sudan not serve as a haven for terrorists. The actual incentives and disincentives are classified.

The policy was delayed for several months because Gration and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice disagreed about how strict the U.S. should be - Gration called for lighter penalties.

Nuclear Proliferation

Gration has long championed the issue of nuclear disarmament. He thinks there are too many nuclear weapons in America's arsenal and hopes to accelerate the 2002 Moscow Treaty that would reduce the operationally deployed strategic warheads to 2,000 by 2012.

He has called for completely eliminating nuclear weapons, but he said he doesn't think that's possible, especially not through unilateral disarmament.

Iraq War and Fighting Terrorism

Gration ran the air war in Iraq in 2003. But he has been a frequent critic of the effort since then. He has said that the protracted Iraqi occupation by U.S. forces is weakening our armed forces without helping the country root out al-Qaeda.

Gration supports Obama's plan to withdraw one brigade from Iraq each month over sixteen months. He helped Obama craft his approach to Pakistan and supports targeted attacks on terrorist camps there.

The Network

As one of Obama's top foreign policy advisers, Gration met regularly with Anthony Lake, Susan Rice, Dennis McDonough, Mark Lippert, Samantha Power and Ben Rhodes.

Gration spent much of his time campaigning for Obama alongside Richard Danzig and Gen. Merrill McPeak, who are also advising the President.

Additional Resources