Brett Holden McGurk (born April 20, 1973) is an American diplomat, attorney, and academic who served in senior national security positions under presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.

He most recently led negotiations between the United States, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

[8] In 2009, McGurk was retained during the transition from George W. Bush to Barack Obama, serving as a senior advisor to both the president and the United States ambassador to Iraq.

He later flew to Baghdad and helped oversee the evacuation of 1,500 U.S. employees from the U.S. embassy, while working with President Obama and the National Security Council to develop the U.S. diplomatic and military response to the ISIL threat.

[18] On December 3, 2014, in Brussels, Belgium, a formal alliance of 62 nations was formed to support Iraq and help the new government under Prime Minister Abadi fight ISIL along five military and diplomatic lines of effort.

[23] He also helped rally the global coalition for military and financial contributions to support major counter-ISIL operations in Iraq and Syria, with emphasis on post-conflict stabilization and returning the displaced to their homes.

"[25] During the Trump administration, he worked with James Mattis and Rex Tillerson, then-secretaries of defense and state, respectively, to develop the accelerated campaign against ISIL, which led to the liberation of Raqqa in October 2017.

[27] He later led talks with Russia and Jordan to establish a ceasefire zone in southwest Syria[28] and spearheaded an initiative with Tillerson to restore ties between Saudi Arabia and Iraq after nearly three decades of dormant relations.

Critics claim that the extramarital affair cast doubt on his ability to lead and manage the embassy, while supporters argue that it was at most a momentary lapse in judgment and that McGurk and Chon were a married couple when the series of emails from five years earlier leaked.

"While we regret to see Brett withdraw his candidacy," Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman, said in a statement later that day, "there is no doubt that he will be called on again to serve the country.

On January 19, 2017, President-Elect Donald Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer announced that the incoming administration would retain the Obama-appointed McGurk in his role leading the counter-ISIL campaign.

He endorsed the view that America's adversaries will take advantage of the power vacuum created by a premature pullout from Syria, writing: "the Islamic State and other extremist groups will fill the void opened by our departure, regenerating their capacity to threaten our friends in Europe — as they did throughout 2016 — and ultimately our own homeland".

While at Stanford, McGurk has published commentary on Syria,[54] China,[55] Iran,[56] and the insolvency of President Trump's foreign policy between stated objective and dedicated resources.

[58] The op-ed became a cornerstone of proposals by presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren[59] and was reflected in Vice President Joe Biden's foreign policy speech.

[60] In February 2019, McGurk received the James Foley Freedom Award for his work in securing the release of Americans held hostage by the Iranian government and his leadership in the campaign to defeat ISIL.

[64] This conclusion was based on McGurk's past criticisms of Turkey's government, which included condemning their October 2019 military offensive into Syria against the SDF, accusing Turkey of purposefully not securing their border with Syria so foreigners could join ISIL, suggesting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may have harbored ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and denouncing Erdogan for hosting Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

[65][64] In February 2022 the White House sent Brett McGurk to Riyadh after the transfer of missile interceptors to the kingdom to discuss the uncertain energy supply and the war in Yemen among other issues.

[71]The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, replied: “It’s quite understandable that without the freedom of the hostages, nothing can be solved.”[70] Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa opened the summit with a call for an exchange between Hamas and Israel for the hostages and a stop to the fighting.

[70] McGurk's linkage of a hostage release to relieving the Gazan humanitarian crisis was criticized by the president of Refugees International, as promoting collective punishment of the Palestinians for the actions of Hamas, which violates the laws of armed conflict.

[74][75][76] A six-week ceasefire agreement was agreed to, during which there would be a swap of 33 Hamas-held hostages taken in the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel for approximately 1,000 Palestinian prisoners (some of whom were serving life sentences for murder), a halt to fighting accompanied by a surge of humanitarian relief into Gaza, and steps would be taken toward further exchanges and toward ending the 15-month war.

Rarely if ever have teams of current and new presidents of different parties worked together at such a high-stakes moment, with the fate of American lives and the future of a devastating war hanging in the balance.