Middle East and North Africa

A Bureaucratic Failure, Not a Scandal A BUREAUCRATIC FAILURE, NOT A SCANDAL John Bradshaw, NSN Executive Director January 19, 2016 | USA News As a former foreign service officer who served in several small U.S. posts overseas, the 2012 attack at the Benghazi facility had a particular resonance for me. But from the beginning, it was clear to me that this was not a political scandal, but the tragic outcome of two interacting forces: bureaucratic inertia at the State Department that led to chronic inadequate security for U.S. posts, and the propensity of foreign service officers to continually push against the boundaries of the security envelope. The various investigations of the attack, including the Accountability Review Board chaired by former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, all concluded… Read More ›

Saudi Arabia Vs. Iran… Here’s Why January 4, 2016 | The Big Picture RT Multiple Middle Eastern states have ended diplomatic ties with Iran after tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran rapidly escalated this weekend. John Bradshaw, NSN’s Executive Director, joins Thom Hartman to dicucss what it means for the on-going conflicts in the Middle East – and what it means for the future of diplomacy in the region.   To watch the original interview posting, click here. Read More ›

NSN Signs Letter Urging Funding for the IAEA December 17, 2015 Nuclear Watchdog Organization needs Funding to Effectively Monitor Iran Dear Members of Congress, We write to you regarding the crucial need to fully fund the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the watchdog organization responsible for overseeing the implementation of the nuclear agreement between the United States, its negotiating partners, and Iran. The IAEA is responsible for verifying Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which restricts Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for economic sanctions relief related to its nuclear program. Through an unprecedented system of intrusive inspections and safeguards, the IAEA will monitor Iran’s nuclear program and ensure it serves strictly peaceful purposes. The Director General of the IAEA has estimated… Read More ›

The paranoid style in Islamophobic politics J. Dana Stuster, NSN Policy Analyst December 14, 2015 | THE HILL When Donald Trump issued a statement recently calling on the U.S. government to bar Muslims, including U.S. citizens, from entering the United States, the condemnation came swift, as though there was still some line of good taste or ethics Trump had only just crossed. The critics are right, of course: Trump is a narcissist, a fascist, a demagogue with a third-grade vocabulary and a three-year-old’s understanding of the constitution. Which makes him an easy scapegoat for the Islamophobia that’s migrated from the far-right fringe of the political discourse to the mainstream. But Trump is a symptom, not a cause. It’s not enough to condemn Trump when his hateful… Read More ›

Mainstreaming Hate: The Far-Right Fringe Origins of Islamophobic and Anti-Refugee Politics Policy Brief by J. Dana Stuster and Samuel Davidoff-Gore December 2015 To read the full report, click here. The National Security Network (NSN) is pleased to release a new policy brief, Mainstreaming Hate: The Far-Right Fringe Origins of Islamophobic and Anti-Refugee Politics. Since the November 13 terrorist attack in Paris, politicians have seized on reports of participation in the attacks by alleged Syrian refugees to impugn U.S. efforts to resettle 10,000 refugees displaced by the Islamic State and the violence of the Syrian civil war – a relatively small number of refugees in relation to the overall number of people displaced from Syria and the burden on other nations accepting Syrian refugees. These political… Read More ›

NSN 2016 Update: Clash of Civilizations November 13, 2015 Over the last few days, Republicans have engaged in a spirited competition over who can say the most horrible things about Syrian refugees, and a few went further, calling for unconstitutional religious tests that threaten the core freedoms this country was founded to protect. Marco Rubio is reading straight from the ISIS playbook when he calls the conflict in the Middle East a “clash of civilizations.” “ISIS wants to make this a clash of civilizations,” says Rand Beers, former Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and founder of NSN. “Why should we be helping them make their case? Why should we be turning on our own values?” By feeding the ISIS narrative and comparing… Read More ›

From Russian escalation to a negotiated solution in Syria By J. Dana Stuster November 16, 2015 | THE HILL Secretary of State John Kerry’s meetings with counterparts from the Gulf states, Iran, and Russia in Vienna represent the best chance the United States has for resolving Syria’s civil war. While Russia’s recent escalation clearly risks prolonging the violence needlessly, it could turn out to be the catalyst for a resolution to the crisis. Russia’s strikes so far and the fact that the meetings are happening at all are a reason to pursue this diplomatic opening, especially when the United States has few options in Syria short of risking a direct military conflict with Russia. When Russia began conducting airstrikes in defense of the Assad regime a… Read More ›

NSN 2016 Update: Week of 11/8/2015 November 13, 2015 Today, NSN debuts a new offering—a roundup of conservative candidate statements on foreign policy and quick rebuttals to them. This week’s theme: conservative candidates don’t understand the Middle East, past or present, but still think they can chart its future.  “It wasn’t that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all.” – Jeb Bush on the Middle East Jeb Bush’s comments show that he doesn’t understand Russia’s history in Syria, so how can he get the policy right? Actually, Russia’s influence in Syria dates back to Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, who invited Brezhnev’s USSR to lease the Tartus naval facility back in the 1970s. In fact, Jeb Bush gets it precisely backwards: Russia is not fighting… Read More ›

Clinton preps for battle with GOP Benghazi Committee October 20, 2015 | Fox News David Mercer, NSN Board of Directors member, discusses the Benghazi Committee on Fox New’s Strategy Room. To watch the original interview posting, click here. Read More ›

Getting the Facts on Benghazi Monday, October 19, 2015 3:00PM EST In anticipation of Secretary Clinton’s appearance before the House Benghazi Committee on October 22, the National Security Network is hosting a press call on Monday, October 19 at 3PM, with two former Obama Administration officials who are familiar with the events surrounding the 2012 Benghazi attack as well as the broader situation in Libya. The officials will provide background information and will answer questions on-the-record to assist reporters in understanding the timeline and consequences of the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi. EXPERTS Matthew Olsen is a Former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and currently is a lecturer at Harvard and a National Security Analyst for ABC News. Prior to joining NCTC,… Read More ›