Iran Adviser Moves To National Security Council

By: Stephanie Condon
Topics: White House

(AP/Charles Dharapak)

The White House officially announced today Dennis Ross, previously Hillary Clinton's special adviser on Iran, is joining the National Security Council staff and will serve as a special assistant to the president.

The veteran Middle East negotiator will have a portfolio that encompasses the Middle East, the Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Asia, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today. Ross will report to Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and National Security Adviser Jim Jones.

"If you look at all of the regions that are encompassed in that larger framework, you have different parts of the Middle East -- Iran and Iraq, the Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan. You've got a number of very important places in our foreign policy and in our national interests," Gibbs said today. "I can assure you, given the list of countries, that they'll be plenty busy."

Ross first gained notoriety as President Bill Clinton's Middle East envoy and director of policy planning in the first Bush administration.