# Flynt Leverett > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Flynt_Leverett > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Flynt_Leverett.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynt_Leverett > Source revision: 1356730866 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American government official}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2013}} '''Flynt L. Leverett''' (born March 6, 1958, in [Memphis, Tennessee](/source/Memphis%2C_Tennessee)) is a former senior fellow at the [New America Foundation](/source/New_America_Foundation) in [Washington, D.C.](/source/Washington%2C_D.C.), and a professor at the [Pennsylvania State University](/source/Pennsylvania_State_University) School of International Affairs. From March 2002 to March 2003, he served as the senior director for Middle East affairs on the [National Security Council](/source/United_States_National_Security_Council) (NSC). Prior to serving on the NSC, he was a counterterrorism expert on the Policy Planning Staff of the [U.S. State Department](/source/U.S._State_Department), and before that he served as a [CIA](/source/CIA) senior analyst for eight years. Since leaving government service, Leverett served as a visiting fellow at the [Brookings Institution](/source/Brookings_Institution)'s [Saban Center for Middle East Policy](/source/Saban_Center_for_Middle_East_Policy) before becoming the director of the Geopolitics of Energy Initiative in the American Strategy Program at the [New America Foundation](/source/New_America_Foundation). ==Professional life== Professor Leverett graduated with the degrees of B.A., B.M., from [Texas Christian University](/source/Texas_Christian_University) and went on to earn M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from [Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University). His areas of professional expertise include U.S. Middle East and Persian Gulf policy, international energy affairs, and international security. He is a founding faculty member of the School of International Affairs of Pennsylvania State University. He has testified before Congress, and has appeared on numerous major television news-oriented broadcasts.Pennsylvania State University School of International Affairs, official website faculty profiles, last accessed 9 May 2013, http://sia.psu.edu/faculty/flynt_leverett On December 16, 2006, Leverett was denied permission to publish a 1,000 word [opinion piece](/source/Editorial), co-written with his wife, Hillary Mann and based on his previously approved 35 page paper "Dealing with Tehran: Assessing U.S. Diplomatic Options Toward Iran." The longer paper and its shorter piece are critical of the [George W. Bush administration](/source/Presidency_of_George_W._Bush)'s refusal to engage in "comprehensive" negotiations with the [government of Iran](/source/Politics_and_Government_of_Iran).{{cite news |last= Goldenberg |first= Suzanne |author-link= Suzanne Goldenberg |title= Bush accused of gagging critic of Iran policy |publisher= Guardian Unlimited |date= 2006-12-18 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/usa/story/0,,1974216,00.html |access-date= 2006-12-18 }}[http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2006/12/post_7/ "Flynt Leverett Blasts White House National Security Council Censorship of Former White House Officials Critical of Bush Policies"]. The Washington Note. December 16, 2006. ''URL accessed December 18, 2006.'' Leverett had intended to publish the shorter article in ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)''. In a statement to the online publication ''[Talking Points Memo](/source/Talking_Points_Memo)'', he disputed the official justification for the decision. {{quote| The [White House](/source/White_House) is demanding, before it will consider clearing the op-ed for publication, that I excise entire paragraphs dealing with matters that I have written about (and received clearance from the CIA to do so) in several other pieces, that have been publicly acknowledged by Secretary [Rice](/source/Condoleezza_Rice), former Secretary of State [Colin Powell](/source/Colin_Powell), and former Deputy Secretary of State [Richard Armitage](/source/Richard_Armitage_(politician)), and that have been extensively covered in the media.[http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/dec/16/flynt_leverett_blasts_white_house_national_security_council_censorship_of_former_white_house_offici link]}} In the same statement, Leverett places the blame for quashing the op-ed piece on
White House staffers... working for [Elliott Abrams](/source/Elliott_Abrams) and [Meghan O'Sullivan](/source/Meghan_O'Sullivan), both politically appointed deputies to [President Bush](/source/George_W._Bush)'s [National Security Advisor](/source/National_Security_Advisor_(United_States)) [Stephen Hadley](/source/Stephen_Hadley).
In a 2010 ''New York Times'' op-ed co-authored with his wife Hillary Mann Leverett, Flynt described the [Iranian opposition](/source/Iranian_opposition) movement as weak and not representing "anything close to a majority." He criticised President Obama's Iran policy as "half-hearted efforts."{{cite news|last1=Leverett |first1=Flynt|last2=Leverett|first2=Hillary Mann|title=Another Iranian Revolution? Not Likely|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/opinion/06leverett.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=C33144C1BDEA751D23F619D478E5AE40&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion|access-date=1 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=2010-01-05}} The Leveretts' op-ed was criticized by [Abbas Milani](/source/Abbas_Milani). Calling the Leveretts' op-ed "the most infuriating op-ed of the new year", Milani said that Obama's efforts to reach out to the Ayatollah had been rejected and ridiculed by the Iranian government.{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/72340/the-state-the-opposition-strong|title=The State of the Opposition is Strong |last=Milani|first=Abbas|date=2010-01-08|magazine=New Republic|access-date=2018-01-01|language=en-US}} In a 2010 article in the ''Atlantic'', [Jeffrey Goldberg](/source/Jeffrey_Goldberg) described the Leveretts as "cynical foreign policy realists", and criticized their reasons for a policy of conciliation between the US and a "regime that rapes and murders its own citizens" as "semi-inexplicable."{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/01/bad-news-for-hillary-mann-leverett/33256/|title=Bad News for Hillary Mann Leverett|last=Goldberg|first=Jeffrey|date=2010-01-12|work=The Atlantic|access-date=2018-01-01|language=en-US}} Together with his wife [Hillary Mann Leverett](/source/Hillary_Mann_Leverett), he is author of the 2013 nonfiction book ''[Going to Tehran](/source/Going_to_Tehran)''.{{Cite web |title=Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran {{!}} UCIS Central Calendar |url=https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/events/node/6136 |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.ucis.pitt.edu}} ==Bibliography== {{Expand list|date=July 2015}} ===Books and reports=== *{{cite book |author=Leverett, Flynt |title=US-Iran Relations: Looking Back and Looking Ahead |location=Abu Dhabi |publisher=Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research |year=2004}} *{{cite book |author=Leverett, Flynt |author-mask=1 |title=Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire |url=https://archive.org/details/inheritingsyria00flyn |url-access=registration |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |year=2005|isbn=9780815752042 }} *{{cite book |editor=Leverett, Flynt |editor-mask=1 |title=The Road Ahead: Middle East Policy in the Bush Administration's Second Term: Planning Papers |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |year=2005}} *{{cite book |author=Leverett, Flynt |author-mask=1 |title=Dealing with Tehran: Assessing U.S. Diplomatic Options toward Iran |location=New York |publisher=The Century Foundation |year=2006 |url=http://www.tcf.org/assets/downloads/tcf-leverett_diplomatic.pdf |access-date=2015-07-29}} *{{cite book |author1=Leverett, Flynt |author2=Leverett, Hillary Mann |title=[Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran](/source/Going_to_Tehran) |location=New York |publisher=Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt |year=2013}} ===Essays=== *{{cite magazine |author1=Leverett, Flynt |author2=Leverett, Hillary Mann |date=November 2012 |title=The mad mullah myth: The dangers of misunderstanding Iran's strategy |department=Revision |magazine=[Harper's Magazine](/source/Harper's_Magazine) |volume=325 |issue=1950 |pages=53–55}} ==Video== * {{cite video |people = Leverett, Flynt |title= New America Foundation Discussion on Iran Issues |url= http://www.c-span.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=HP-A-5648 | medium= TV-Public Affairs | publisher= C-SPAN | location= Washington, D.C. | date= 2006-12-18}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://newamerica.net/user/88 Profile]{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }} at [New America Foundation](/source/New_America_Foundation) *[http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav111606a.shtml Bush Administration Guilty of Strategic Malpractice - Expert] *[http://www.democracynow.org/2004/4/2/ex_bush_national_security_council_member How Bush Bungled The War on Terror?] Flynt Leverett in Democracy Now *[http://www.newamerica.net/people/flynt_leverett Biography at New American Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106030216/http://www.newamerica.net/people/flynt_leverett |date=2007-01-06 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110606070259/http://www.brookings.edu/search.aspx?doQuery=1&q=Leverett Publications on the Brookings Institution Website by Flynt L. Leverett] *[https://ourworldinbalance.blogspot.com/2007/10/story-of-leverett-and-mann.html The Story of Leverett and Mann] by Our World in Balance *[http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/20548 Video (with mp3 available) of conversation with Leverett] and [David Frum](/source/David_Frum) on [Bloggingheads.tv](/source/Bloggingheads.tv) * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8yw4bIOYxI/ Flynt Leverett interviewed on ''Conversations from Penn State''] * {{C-SPAN|1006097}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Leverett, Flynt}} Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency Category:United States Department of State officials Category:Living people Category:American male writers Category:1958 births Category:Pennsylvania State University faculty Category:United States National Security Council staffers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Flynt Leverett](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynt_Leverett) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynt_Leverett?action=history)). 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