"As Mark Landler of The New York Times reported on Tuesday, Mr. Ross will be taking on an expanded role covering Iran and other Middle East issues at the National Security Council. White House officials still haven’t officially announced the move — hopefully they won’t keep Mr. Ross hanging on a limb for as long as the State Department did before announcing his job one night back in February. But several officials confirm that it is about to happen.
The big question, though, is why? Obama administration officials have been cryptic when asked about the reason for the shuffle. Does it mean that the White House is the real center of the action when it comes to foreign policy? Were there too many special envoys over at the State Department? Was Secretary of State Hilary Clinton not giving Mr. Ross enough face time? Or is Mr. Ross going to assume more of a role in Mr. Obama’s evolving Middle East policy, particularly in relations with Israel? Helene Cooper
————————————————————————
Simple Question – I ask you all. If you were the Dennis, would you be happy with what is happening to you? pl
Laura Rozen has her doubts he’s happy.
But we don’t yet know what is happening to him, do we? He could be up, he could be down, he could be headed sideways. We’ve heard all those accounts, no? Whom and what are we to believe?
Laura Rozen’s point of view on the Dennis moves.
I am interested in the possible rationale why Khamenei may not be interested in the rapproachment dialog that Obama apparently would like.
Well, given that the unemployment rate just jumped over 10% for us “regular” folks, he should be happy. That said, he’s probably not happy, you have to wonder if Scty of State Clinton was trying to get rid of him and this new job is to placate him.
If he goes to the NSC Jones will “hug him to death”. Ross should really should think about that nice corner office at WINEP.
Colonel,
I guess it would really depend on the nature of his new portfolio. I’ll defer to your knowledge of the operational structure of NSC, but if he’s going to become a new uber-senior director (over Talwar, Shapiro and General Lute) who has direct access to the President, then I guess he’d be pretty happy as a recent WaPo article mentioned one of his friends describing Ross as frustrated in his current position as a senior envoy. However, if this move was designed to: 1) remove a hardliner from the upcoming negotiations with Iran and 2) keep an eye on him by “promoting” him as the next senior director for strategic planning/SAP, then I don’t think he’d be too happy. What sort of relationship does Ross have with General Jones? If the usual suspects among neoconservatives have been leaking stories to undermine Jones, then I don’t expect the general to embrace Ross with open arms. If the latter possibility is closer to the mark, since Ross was the DPP under GHW Bush, maybe Jones will cook up a portfolio amorphous enough and “strategic” (preferably one of transational variety) to keep him occupied for some time while channeling the sensitive information flow around him.
The fact that he even has a spot in this administration is an AIPAC victory.
In the midst of reading a new book entitled “In The Shadow of the Oval Office” by Ivo Daalder and I.M. Destler. Whatever the merits of the book it discusses the various National Security Advisors after the Eisenhower Administration. It clearly establishes that movement between the STATE Dept. and WH/NSC and the reverse are usually orchestrated at behest of the President himself. My guess is no exception in the case of Ross who is brilliant, motivated, tireless, has deep personal and public history on Middle-East and is definitely pro-Israel. So many possible interpretations but my guess is Ross is now being blamed for the fact that once again the INTEL community completely missed the possibility of a deep disatisfaction being demonstrated by the vote whatever the official outcome in Iran. Probably Ross had the import of the election nailed. The PRESIDENT and HRC respected that, but now with turn of events wrong man in wrong place but the Administration does not want to lose his imput! I think DENNIS is a keeper and will have a long long run in DC but could be wrong. But again, another big one that appears to have eluded the INTEL community completely. Of course I only have access to open sources so maybe they (and Dennis)nailed the possible outcomes on the Streets of Iran. Clearly no one including the Administration knows how to pay this fumble by INTEL!
Somehow I think the rumors re Jones and the pending Ross porfolio shift are related. There’s a tsunami raging.
And why exactly should we care about how Dennis feels? IMHO Washington has enough Likud-ites. Putting a few out to pasture would hardly be noticed.