Biden appoints Brett McGurk as National Security Council’s MENA coordinator

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Brett McGurk, a former US envoy to the anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition, was on Friday appointed the Middle East and North Africa coordinator for the National Security Council of the incoming Biden administration.

McGurk is one of 21 new coordinators appointed to the NSC, according to a statement on the official Biden-Harris transition website. NSC coordinators advise the president on national security and foreign policy.

“I’ve had the privilege of serving with President-elect Joe Biden over the last decade. He’s the leader we need at this critical moment in history. I’ll be honored to join his NSC team under the leadership of @jakejsullivan,” McGurk tweeted.

McGurk was the US envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh (ISIS) from 2015. He resigned from the role in December 2018, when US President Donald Trump first raised his intention to withdraw troops from northeast Syria.

McGurk told Rudaw in February 2020 that the US presence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq remains critical to keeping the threat of terrorism at bay. 

“We are anchored in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. I think that is very important,” he said. 

“It’s really important to remember that the campaign that we built against ISIS was designed to be enduring… that meant we will defeat the physical caliphate but we will stay to make sure the enduring defeat of ISIS.” 

McGurk was less supportive of the decision made by Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region at the time, to hold a Kurdistan independence referendum in September 2017.

“We did of course re-iterate the position of the United States that this referendum is ill-timed and ill-advised. It is not something that we can support,” McGurk said. 

McGurk served as an advisor on Iran and Iraq under the George Bush and Barack Obama administrations.