Jake Sullivan was 44 when President Biden named him as national security advisor, making him the youngest American to hold the post in nearly 60 years. He comes not from a college campus with sweeping, untested theories, but rather from Capitol Hill and the State Department with practical experience as a diplomat and policymaker. He focuses on what is possible given the balance of forces for and against any proposal, with attention to detail and confidence in America’s capacity to renew its foreign policy.
To be sure, Israel will continue to coordinate with the Gulf countries on intelligence and air defense. The United Arab Emirates and other gulf states see an alliance with Israel as an additional security guarantee, now that America’s strength is questioned in U.S. troops withdrawn from Afghanistan, a chaotic end to America’s longest war.
Ahmed Charai is a Moroccan publisher and an Atlantic Council Board Director. He is also an international counselor of the Center for a Strategic and International Studies, a board of trustees member of International Crisis Group, and a member of the Advisory Board of The Center for the National Interest in Washington and Global Board of Advisors at The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security in Jerusalem.