Samantha Sutton is a nonresident senior fellow in the N7 Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. Sutton served in the US government for over a decade, focused primarily on Israel. Most recently, she served in the National Security Council under the Biden administration as the director for Israel and Palestinian Affairs. In this role, Sutton was directly involved in the multi-month negotiations across the Middle East to secure the release of Israeli hostages and a cease-fire in Gaza in January 2025, as well as the shuttle diplomacy and negotiations to reach a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon in November 2024.

Prior to her time on the National Security Council, Sutton served at the Department of Defense as country director for the Levant, where she was responsible for coordinating defense priorities in the region. Before that, she served as the chief of staff to then US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides. She also held the role of lead political negotiator for the Middle East at the US Mission to the United Nations (UN) from 2017 to 2021. In this role, she led efforts under then US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley to combat perceived anti-Israel bias at the UN. Earlier in her career, Sutton was deputy chief of staff supporting then Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Martin Indyk.

Sutton received her master of arts from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, which included a semester at the American University of Beirut. She received her bachelor of arts from Georgetown University.