Ambassador Dennis Ross

Dennis Ross is a counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Before returning to the institute in 2011, he served two years as special assistant to President Obama and as National Security Council senior director for the central region, and a year as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. A highly skilled diplomat, Dennis was the US point man on the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. A 1970 graduate of UCLA, Dennis has received honorary doctorates from Brandeis, Amherst, Jewish Theological Seminary, and Syracuse University. He also writes monthly columns for U.S. News and World Report, the New York Daily News, and Asharq al-awsat. His most recent book, co-written with David Makovsky, is Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel’s Most Important Leaders Shaped Its Destiny (2019).