Brett McGurk

Global Affairs Analyst, CNN

Brett McGurk served in senior national security positions across four presidential administrations. Most recently, as deputy assistant to former US President Biden and White House coordinator for the Middle East region, he spearheaded responses to some of the most complex diplomatic challenges of our time—from helping to lead multi-month negotiations to secure the release of hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza, to coordinating Israel’s defense against the largest ballistic missile attacks in history. As special presidential envoy for US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, McGurkhelped build and then led a global coalition of more than eighty countries together with local forces on the ground to defeat ISIS and prevent future attacks into Europe as well as the US homeland. He also led secret negotiations with Iran to secure the release of American hostages, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, later receiving the James Foley Freedom Award for hostage diplomacy. As a senior White House official under George W. Bush, McGurk was an early advocate for a change in war policy and helped develop “the surge” to better align the ends and means of US strategy.

During a brief period out of government service in 2019 and 2020, McGurk taught graduate courses on strategy and presidential decision-making at Stanford. He is the author of the forthcoming book, BRINK: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages. BRINK will be published by Crown on October 6, 2026.

McGurk is currently a Global Affairs Analyst for CNN, a distinguished fellow at Atlantic Council and Harvard's Belfer Center, and a Venture Partner at Lux Capital LLC. He also advises CEOs and Fortune 500 companies on matters of global strategy.