It’s still not totally clear what Dennis Ross’ new job at the White House will be — and it hasn’t been officially announced — but reports today suggest that he’ll be getting a lot of responsbility. Al Kamen at the Washington Post reports:
It’s been rumored that Ross is headed to the White House National Security Council but now the picture of his duties seems to be getting much clearer. It does indeed appear to be a big job — a very big job. His duties will include not only Iran but also Iraq and the Middle East peace process — a move that has gotten lots of folks at the NSC very upset, not to mention special Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell.
The most controversial aspect is that Ross will take over the Iraq portfolio from Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, a three-star general who was overseeing both Iraq and Afghanistan. Now Lute will just do Afghanistan — where he’ll be working closely with envoy Richard Holbrooke — while Iraq will be part of Ross’s duties.
Interestingly, Ross has about as much experience with Iraq (virtually zero) as the new U.S. ambassador there, Christopher R. Hill. And both were key players in some of the greatest diplomatic flops of the last 20 years. Hill was point man for North Korea nuke negotiations during the Bush administration. And Ross, an early and ardent Obama backer, has lots of experience in Mideast peace efforts, having been a key player in the Clinton administration’s failed effort to broker a deal.
Laura Rozen at ForeignPolicy.com notes that there’s some confusion in the administration and at State, with many wondering who will move with Ross. She also has some more details on who will be reporting to Ross:
The Cable has learned that deputy national security advisor Thomas Donilon, among others, is positioning Ross to assume an uber-senior NSC position overseeing Iran, Iraq, and the Middle East. The Iraq portfolio formerly assigned to holdover war czar Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute will be shifted to Ross, leaving Lute to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Puneet Talwar, the NSC’s senior director for the Persian Gulf, Iraq, and Iran, will report to Ross, as will Daniel Shapiro, the NSC’s senior director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Under the new NSC structure, there will be no dedicated senior director for Iraq and there will be only two or three directors for Iraq, reporting to Talwar.
In January, when the new administration took office, Lute supervised two senior directors just for Iraq and six Iraq directors. Over the past few months, the size of the group has been reduced, and it now appears it will be further downsized as the Iraq portfolio shifts from Lute to Ross.
Rozen also points out that another key administration player in the Middle East is also wondering about the Ross move:
The other group said to be concerned by Ross’s perceived takeover of Middle East turf is the team of Middle East Peace special envoy George Mitchell, who now has to contend not only with resistance from all quarters of the region, but also a rival power center in the NSC that hasn’t tended to see Middle East peace issues the same way.
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