Flynt Leverett

Flynt Leverett (born March 6, 1958 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC. From March 2002 to March 2003, he served as the senior director for Middle East affairs on the National Security Council. Prior to serving on the NSC, he was a counterterrorism expert on the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, and before that he served as a CIA senior analyst for eight years. Since leaving government service, Leverett served as a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy before becoming the director of the Geopolitics of Energy Initiative in the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation.

Op-ed controversy

As a former national security official granted a security clearance, Leverett is required to seek prior approval of articles from the CIA's Publication Review Board. Such reviews are conducted as a precaution to prevent leaks of classified information. [cite web |last= Aftergood |first= Steven |authorlink= Steven Aftergood |title= CIA Regulations on Pre-Publication Review Posted |work= Secrecy News: from the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy |publisher= Federation of American Scientists |date= 2006-09-26 |url=http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/09/cia_regulations_on_prepublicat.html |format= HTML |doi= |accessdate= 2006-12-18 ]

On December 16, 2006 Leverett was denied permission to publish a 1,000 word opinion piece, co-written with his wife, Hillary Mann and based on his previously approved 35 page paper "Dealing with Tehran: Assessing U.S. Diplomatic Options Toward Iran". The longer paper and its shorter piece are critical of the current administration's refusal to engage in "comprehensive" negotiations with the government of Iran. [cite news |last= Goldenberg |first= Suzanne |authorlink= Suzanne Goldenberg |title= Bush accused of gagging critic of Iran policy |pages= |publisher= Guardian Unlimited |date= 2006-12-18 |url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1974216,00.html |accessdate= 2006-12-18 ] [ [http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/17/300.million.over/index.html "Flynt Leverett Blasts White House National Security Council Censorship of Former White House Officials Critical of Bush Policies"] . The Washington Note. December 16, 2006. "URL accessed December 18, 2006."]

Leverett had intended to publish the shorter article in the New York Times. In a statement to the online publication Talking Points Memo, he disputed the official justification for the decision.

In the same statement, Leverett places the blame for quashing the op-ed piece on "White House staffers... working for Elliott Abrams and Meghan O'Sullivan, both politically appointed deputies to President Bush's National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley".

Publications

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Video

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Books

*"Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial By Fire" a study of politics and policymaking in Syria, ISBN 0815752032
*"The Road Ahead: Middle East Policy in the Bush Administration's Second Term" (edited by Leverett with contributions from Kenneth Pollack, James Steinberg, Shibley Telhami, and Martin Indyk), ISBN 0815752059

References

External links

* [http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav111606a.shtml Bush Administration Guilty of Strategic Malpractice - Expert]
* [http://www.newamerica.net/people/flynt_leverett Biography at New American Foundation]
* [http://www.brookings.edu/index/scholarwork.htm?scholar=Leverett*Flynt*L.* Publications on the Brookings Institute Website by Flynt L. Leverett]
* [http://ourworldinbalance.blogspot.com/2007/10/story-of-leverett-and-mann.html The Story of Leverett and Mann] by Our World in Balance