Dennis Ross's Dilemma Is Solved

Thursday, the National Security Council confirmed in a short statement that Dennis Ross, formerly of the State Department and a member of Washington's uber-establishment, will become the senior director for the "central region" at the NSC, giving him a portfolio that includes oversight of a wide swath of territory, including Iran.  For weeks -- months, even, Ross's status at the Department of State was unclear, even to his friends.

Was he muscled out of discussions?  Was Richard Holbrooke aiming for his portfolio once the time came to engage Iran? Or was Ross's relatively tiny footprint a reflection of the tender subject that he was hired to sort out: the U.S.'s relationship with Iran and that relationship's bearing on Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan.  

There has been speculation that Ross was simply unable to fight through the bureaucracy and grab hold of his piece of the action. Others wondered whether Ross's position on Israel and the Palestinian Authority put him at odds with Gen. Jim Jones's.  The opposite is true: Ross, the primary Middle East envoy during the Clinton years, has for a long time advocated precisely the steps that Barack Obama is taking with respect to the settlement issue in particular. 

Indeed, President Obama has grown to value Ross's advice, and it was on his initiative that Ross gets to move his office from the thickets of Foggy Bottom to the stately columns of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Proximity usually is everything; Ross's move isn't lateral. It's a promotion. He'll now help to oversee the entire Middle Eastern region, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, the PA, Egypt, Iraq -- and Iran. 

Ross's new status befits his role as a counselor, and one of the president's top foreign policy advisers.