Savannah Council on World Affairs - Lecture Series

Abstract:

Come here the latest on the multiple crises in the Middle East. At the transition point from President Biden to President Trump, the Middle East was fragile, latently volatile but ripe with equal measures of promise and peril following the historic changes in Lebanon and Syria. But nine months on, the region has seen a three-sided war, a new Israeli offensive in Gaza, and Qatar caught in the middle. Come hear an informed analysis of these latest developments and the challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. Ambassador Barbara Leaf, one of our country’s foremost experts on the Middle East, will explore policy options for the Trump administration, potential scenarios for ending the Gaza conflict, and risks to U.S. national security interests if the region continues on its unsettled trajectory. In addition to serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Barbara Leaf was Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa. She is now retired from the U.S. Foreign Service and is currently Senior International Policy Advisor at the firm of Arnold and Porter in Washington, DC.

Bio: Ambassador Barbara A. Leaf served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, developing and implementing policies and programs for 18 countries from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula. Drawing on her extensive experience with the Gulf in particular, Ambassador Leaf energetically promoted U.S. efforts to further regional economic integration through new multilateral transportation and trade corridors linking India through the Gulf to Israel and Europe.

In 2021, Ambassador Leaf joined the Biden administration as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa, where she led interagency policy coordination and developed recommendations to the U.S. national security leadership and the President on all regional issues. She supported the President in his engagements with the region’s leaders on matters ranging from ending the 2011 Israel-Hamas conflict, countering Iran’s destabilizing regional activities, and deepening economic and security cooperation with key Gulf partners. From 2018 to 2021, as a fellow at The Washington Institute, Ambassador Leaf directed the Beth and David Gedud Program on Arab Politics. She spoke and wrote regularly on Iraq, Iran, and Gulf Politics, as well as on broader U.S. foreign and national security policy.

Ambassador Leaf served from 2014-2018 as U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates in a diplomatic mission focused on expanding bilateral trade and economic ties, defense and security affairs, counterterrorism, counterproliferation, and law enforcement cooperation. Prior to her assignment as Chief of Mission, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Arabian Peninsula from 2013-2014, overseeing 10 diplomatic posts in the Gulf states and Yemen.

As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq from 2011-2013, Ambassador Leaf oversaw the transformation of U.S. Mission Iraq to a civilian-led enterprise. Leaving an assignment as Political Minister Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Ambassador Leaf directed the 100-member U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team, a stabilization mission in the strategic province of Basrah, Iraq from 2010-2011.