US Special Presidential Envoy under President Obama and then under Trump, Brett McGurk is heading to Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies to join FSI Director ambassador Michael McFaul and others.
In a statement released by FSI Stanford, Condoleezza Rice, the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Senior Fellow by courtesy at FSI, said: “Brett McGurk is the consummate professional diplomat. He has served on the front lines across three administrations, and handled some of the most difficult assignments for me and President Bush in Iraq during the surge. We are thrilled to welcome Brett to Stanford.”
McGurk, an expert on Iraq who played an important role in the Middle East for many years, was central to building the US-led global Coalition against ISIS. The Coalition at its peak numbered at least 75 countries. It has liberated almost 99% of the territory once held by ISIS, including millions of civilians. McGurk was instrumental in pushing for stabilization efforts in Syria and Iraq.
McGurk resigned in the wake of Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw from Syria. He left after Secretary of Defense James Mattis had also resigned. According to the statement “he has been appointed the next Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer. He will spend the next two years at Stanford working with FSI’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.”
McGurk said: “I hope to translate my experience in Washington and overseas into challenging courses to prepare a new generation of public servants, as well as enhance public understanding of the serious issues our nation confronts, and how we might better address them.”
