Flynt Leverett, Middle East Expert and Former Administration Official, Joins Brookings Saban Center as Visiting Fellow

Flynt Leverett, a former National Security Council adviser on the Middle East, has joined the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution as a visiting fellow. His research will focus on the politics of Syria and the Levant and Syria’s role in the war on terrorism and in the Middle East peace process.

“Flynt’s extraordinary expertise and distinguished career in government service make him a valuable addition to the Saban Center,” said Ambassador Martin S. Indyk, director of the Saban Center and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at Brookings. “We expect his work at the Center to make an important contribution to the debate over U.S. relations with Syria—one of the most challenging Middle East issues for American policymakers today.”

Leverett was the senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council from March 2002 to March 2003. He was involved in developing President Bush’s approach to promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace, and advised the president and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on relations with Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

Prior to joining the National Security Council, Leverett was a Middle East and counterterrorism expert on the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff. Before that he was the senior CIA analyst on Syria and Middle East affairs.

Leverett holds a Ph.D. in politics and an M.A. in politics from Princeton University. He earned his B.A from Texas Christian University in 1978.