Meet the Right Wing, Same as the Left Wing

Meet Brian Hook,Mike Pompeo's former Senior Policy Advisor in the State Department

But anyway.

Jewish Insider: Pro-Israel leaders encouraged by Brian Hook’s role on State Department transition team

As questions emerge about how President-elect Donald Trump will handle the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East during a second term, some pro-Israel foreign policy voices say they have been reassured by recent news reports that Brian Hook, a special envoy for Iran in the first Trump administration, is expected to lead the transition team at the State Department.

Hook, who previously worked in the State Department under former President George W. Bush and is now the vice chairman of Cerberus Global Investments, helped to oversee Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign toward Iran, including punishing sanctions after the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal. He was also a key player on the team that negotiated the Abraham Accords, Trump’s signature foreign policy achievement, which the president-elect has pledged to expand when he returns to office.

In interviews with Jewish Insider, several national security experts described Hook, 56, as a seasoned diplomat and staunch supporter of Israel who could help lay the initial groundwork and instill discipline to carry out Trump’s occasionally vague Middle East policy proposals, as he used mixed rhetoric in recent months.

“I couldn’t think of a better person to lead the transition team given Brian’s experience in senior roles at the State Department,” Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JI on Thursday. “His role there suggests that we will be seeing highly qualified and competent people staffing the department who will implement the president’s policies of peace through strength.”

Danielle Pletka, a foreign policy analyst at the American Enterprise Institute who has been critical of Trump, called Hook a “great choice” to helm the State Department transition. “No one knows better than he the menace Iran represents to us and our allies. The government security he has every day is a terrifying reminder of that,” she told JI, alluding to his inclusion on an Iranian hit list targeting several former Trump national security officials.

Brian Hook served as U.S. Special Representative for Iran and Senior Policy Advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from September 2018 to August 2020.

Wow, thanks so much for Draining that Israeli State Department Swamp and not putting Mike Pompeo back in, Mr. President.

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Charles Wright