Crouch, not Abrams. A friend and I puzzled over a confusingly written AP report on this late last night. Here's the deal. Elliot Abrams is not being appointed the deputy national security advisor. The NSC #2 job is going to J.D. Crouch, the current US ambassador to Romania, as announced by the White House January 31st. The White House announced yesterday that Abrams is being named "Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy." It's not clear how that is quite so different from the job Abrams has already held at the NSC since 2002 -- "Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and North African Affairs." The White House press release says "In his [new] capacity...Mr. Abrams will assist Mr. Hadley in work on the promotion of democracy and human rights, and will provide oversight to the NSC's directorate of Democracy, Human Rights, and International Organization Affairs and its directorate of Near East and North African Affairs. Working with Secretary Rice and Mr. Hadley, he will maintain his involvement in Israeli/Palestinian affairs." Sounds like Abrams' portfolio is going to remain pretty heavily focused on the Middle East.

Posted by Laura at February 3, 2005 09:37 PM