Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad is an American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021. Khailzad was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations,serving in the role from 2007 to 2009. Khalilzad was the highest ranking Muslim-American in government at the time he left the position. Prior to this,Khalilzad served in the Bush administration as ambassador to Afghanistan from 2004 to 2005 and Ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007.
Ryan Clark Crocker is a retired American diplomat who served as a career ambassador within the United States Foreign Service. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom,he served as United States ambassador to Afghanistan (2011–2012),Iraq (2007–2009),Pakistan (2004–2007),Syria (1998–2001),Kuwait (1994–1997),and Lebanon (1990–1993). In January 2010,he became dean of Texas A&M University's George Bush School of Government and Public Service.
James Franklin Jeffrey is an American diplomat who served most recently as the United States Special Representative for Syria Engagement and the Special Envoy to the International military intervention against ISIL.
Dennis B. Ross is an American diplomat and author. He served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush,the special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clinton,and was a special adviser for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ross is currently a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy,a pro-Israel think tank,and co-chairs the Jewish People Policy Institute's board of directors.
The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) is an international peacekeeping force overseeing the terms of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The MFO generally operates in and around the Sinai peninsula,ensuring free navigation through the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba,and compliance with the other terms of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty.
Edward Peter Djerejian is a former United States diplomat who served in eight administrations from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton (1962–94.) He served as the United States Ambassador to Syria (1988–91) and Israel (1993–94),Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and Deputy Press Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1985–1986),and was Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (1991–1993.) He was the founding director of Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy (1994-2022) He is a senior fellow at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs,a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is on the board of trustees of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He is a Proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum. Djerejian was elected chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corporation's board of directors (2013–2015). Djerejian is the author of the book Danger and Opportunity:An American Ambassador's Journey Through the Middle East
Robert Nicholas Burns is an American diplomat and international relations scholar who served as the United States ambassador to China from 2022 to 2025.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP),also known simply as The Washington Institute (TWI),is a pro-Israel American think tank based in Washington,D.C.,focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the Near East.
Samantha Jane Power is an Irish-American journalist,diplomat,and government official who served as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development from 2021 to 2025. She previously served as the 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017. Power is a member of the Democratic Party.
Jeffrey David Feltman is an American diplomat and former U.S. Special Envoy for Horn of Africa,serving from April 23,2021 to January 10,2022. He previously served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs. As head of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs Feltman oversaw the UN's diplomatic efforts to prevent and mitigate conflict worldwide.
David Maclain Hale is an American diplomat and career ambassador,who previously served as the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He is currently a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Wilson Center,on detail from the Department of State.
Francis Joseph Ricciardone Jr. is a former President of the American University in Cairo. Ambassador Ricciardone was the United States ambassador to Turkey between 2011 and 2014. Previously he was Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul,Afghanistan. He was also on leave from the U.S. Department of State as a guest scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has served as U.S. Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt (2005–2008),the Republic of the Philippines and the Republic of Palau (2002–2005). As a career member of the Senior Foreign Service,he received U.S. government and other organization awards for his work in foreign policy and program management,political reporting and analysis,and peacekeeping.
Gene Allan Cretz is a career diplomat who retired from the Senior Foreign Service in 2015. Before retiring,he was the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.
John Rodney Bass II is an American diplomat,who served as the under secretary of state for management from 2021 to 2025. He was the United States ambassador to Afghanistan from 2017 to 2020,the United States ambassador to Turkey from 2014 to 2017 and the United States ambassador to Georgia from 2009 to 2012.
Michael A. Hammer is an American diplomat who served as the United States Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa 2022 to 2024. A career member of the United States Foreign Service,Hammer previously served as the United States ambassador to Chile from 2014 to 2016 and the United States ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2018 to 2022. Hammer appointed Chargéd'affaires ad interim to Cuba on November 14,2024.
Brett Holden McGurk is an American diplomat,attorney,and academic who served in senior national security positions under presidents George W. Bush,Barack Obama,Donald Trump,and Joe Biden. He served as deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. He most recently led negotiations between the United States,Israel,Egypt,and Qatar to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Daniel H. Rubinstein is a United States Foreign Service Officer and diplomat he had served as Chargéd'Affaires ad interim to Sudan. He has served as consul general,the top U.S. official at the Jerusalem consulate and directed the State Department's Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs. From October 2015 to January 2019,Rubinstein served as United States Ambassador to Tunisia;he was succeeded by Donald A. Blome.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield is an American diplomat who served as the 31st United States ambassador to the United Nations under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025. She served as the U.S. 18th assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2013 to 2017. Thomas-Greenfield then worked in the private sector as a senior vice president at business strategy firm Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington,D.C.
Amos J. Hochstein is an American businessman,diplomat,and former lobbyist. He was a top national and economic security official in the Biden administration. Hochstein has worked in the U.S. Congress,has testified before congressional panels and has served in the Barack Obama administration under Secretaries of State Clinton and Kerry. He was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in 2011 and as Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs in 2013. In 2015,President Barack Obama nominated Hochstein to be the Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources but the Senate did not act on the nomination. While at the State Department,Hochstein worked as a close advisor to Vice President Biden. He served in the administration from 2011 to 2017.
Lieutenant General Simon Andrew Stuart,is a senior officer of the Australian Army who has served as the Chief of Army since July 2022. He was commissioned into the Royal Australian Infantry Corps from the Royal Military College,Duntroon in 1990. He has commanded the 8th/9th Battalion,Royal Australian Regiment (2008–10),Joint Task Force 631 (2010) and Combined Team Uruzgan (2012–13),and deployed to East Timor as part of Operations Warden,Tanager and Astute and to Afghanistan and the Sinai Peninsula. He was Force Commander,Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai from 2017 to 2019,and Head Land Capability from 2020 to 2022. He succeeded Lieutenant General Rick Burr as Chief of Army on 2 July 2022.
