Great Powers in the Middle East, Regional International Politics, US Policy in the Middle East, Lebanon
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Ambassador David Hale is a Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute, after serving as a Foreign Service officer. He writes, speaks, and consults on U.S. foreign policy, including toward the Middle East and South Asia.
He was the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from August 2018 to May 2021, reporting directly to the Secretary of State. Ambassador Hale was responsible for the conduct of U.S. foreign relations globally. He supervised the Department’s six regional bureaus and the bureau for international organizations, as well as all American embassies, consulates and missions abroad. He interacted regularly with world leaders to advance America’s foreign policy, traveled to over 50 countries in that role, and spoke to a wide variety of audiences. He testified on a global range of topics before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center (2022-2025), he wrote and made media appearances on foreign policy, with a focus on the Middle East, Afghanistan, and South Asia. His book, American Diplomacy toward Lebanon: Lessons in Foreign Policy and the Middle East, was published by Bloomsbury/I.B. Tauris in February 2024 as part of a Middle East Institute policy series. His bi-weekly column appears on the Lebanese online news and opinion outlet, “This is Beirut.” His expertise on Lebanon developed over a 35-year span of periodic work there.
Ambassador Hale holds the lifetime rank of Career Ambassador. A Career Ambassador is Senate-confirmed, the most senior rank in the State Department, and equivalent to a four-star general. He served in the administrations of Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump as: Ambassador to Pakistan (2015-2018), Ambassador to Lebanon (2013-2015), Special Envoy for Middle East Peace (2011-2013), Deputy Special Envoy (2009-2011), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State covering Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinians (2008-2009), Ambassador to Jordan (2005-2008), and Director for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs (2001-2003). In addition to his tours in Jordan and Lebanon as ambassador, he served as a political officer and deputy chief of mission in each post. His other overseas assignments were in Israel, Tunisia, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. He was Secretary Albright’s Executive Assistant.
He graduated in 1983 from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He received one presidential distinguished and two meritorious rank awards; the Secretary of State’s distinguished service award; State Department superior and meritorious honor awards; the Philip C. Habib Award for Distinguished Public Service from the American Task Force for Lebanon; and, Jordan’s Order of Istiqlal.
As Lebanese, Israeli, and American teams prepare for their first-ever trilateral leaders summit, it is time to reflect on this opportunity and lessons from the past.
Amb. Hale discusses three broad policy options for Washington following the failure of the US-Iran talks in Pakistan.
Once again, Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah, have dragged Lebanon into a war. But there are differences today. These differences are a cause for hope.
Media and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are hyping the idea that President Trump’s attempt to gain sovereign control of Greenland has caused unprecedented and irreparable damage to the over 75 year-old Transatlantic Alliance. This “analysis” stems from multiple sources. On both sides of the ocean, there are those who pounce on any deviation from the norm by Trump as evidence the world as we know it is ending. And in Europe, there is the human but unattractive reaction of weak, dependent states against their one powerful ally when it rejects Europe’s preferred script. Much of the US media criticism is summarized by the concept that our other NATO allies can never again “trust” the US.
America’s dramatic capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has set the stage for the conduct of America’s national security strategy in 2026. It has also raised questions.
A year after Israel defanged Hezbollah, and in the wake of the annual opening of the UN General Assembly and several developments related to the Middle East, it may be a good time to take stock. In my 38-year career of diplomacy in the Middle East, anytime someone expressed optimism, I would suggest a head examination might be in order. However, today there are a few glimmerings of things that might help the region stabilize.
This month brings world leaders together to mark the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly. Their formal speeches in front of the assembly vary in interest, as many contain more pious platitudes than meaty information. The real work of interest often happens behind-the-scenes, as world leaders meet bilaterally or in small groups to discuss the issues of the day away from the glare of media or the pressure for summits to deliver results. The occasion also provides opportunities for the unexpected to happen. The Middle East will figure largely in these talks. Here are some po
There was a real possibility earlier this summer that the United States was going to veto the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate in August. Ultimately, a wiser course prevailed, when the UN Security Council extended UNIFIL’s mandate “for a final time” last week until the end of 2026. This step is a positive one for everyone concerned except Hezbollah and its foreign patron, Iran.
It has been a remarkable week for Lebanon. President Aoun, Speaker Berri, and Prime Minister Salam have acted in unison, never something to be taken for granted in Lebanon. Moreover, they have done so on a topic that has been wrongly taboo since the Taef Accord: restoring the Lebanese state’s monopoly of arms and confronting Hezbollah’s challenge to state sovereignty. It is an unprecedented step and required courage and determination. These three leaders and their teams deserve enormous credit. It was difficult but the right decision.
Whatever you think about events since October 2023, a fundamental shift in the balance of power has occurred in the Middle East.
The dilemma for Washington and its regional partners is what to do now to bring lasting security for all those who in the past were compelled to live in the shadow of threats and violence by Iran and its Arab proxies. That next phase could be even harder.
Recent developments in Syria are causing surprise and confusion. In a bold move, President Trump and his administration acquiesced to requests from the Turkish and Saudi leadership and lifted most sanctions on the Ahmed al-Sharaa regime, his Salafist HTS movement, and Syria itself. It did so without conditionality, without much effort to understand the character, intentions, and capabilities of the new power in Damascus, and without a plan to use this windfall as leverage.
A career in American diplomacy in the Middle East is a humbling affair. Whenever you heard well-meaning American officials speak of the birth pangs of a “new Middle East,” you knew it was time to update the embassy’s evacuation plans and re-stock its bunkers.
And if anyone in charge spoke of peace in Lebanon of all places, you knew to supplement the evacuation plans with an IQ test for anyone so detached from reality. For the history of American-Lebanese relations is one strewn with inflated expectations and deflated ambition. And not a few corpses.
While most international media are focused on what will happen today or this week between America and Iran, the real story is much bigger—the complete turning of the tables on Iran.
The below transcript is from the keynote address of MEI’s 72nd Annual Conference, held on November 8, 2018 at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington, D.C.
