CAIR sent Letters to Havard & UNH calling for revocation of academic appointments for former Biden foreign policy aides Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/19/25) – Join the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in calling on the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and Harvard University to immediately revoke their recent decisions to hire former U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and former White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, who played key roles in developing, justifying and executing the Biden administration’s most disastrous foreign policy decisions, including the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that ended with a drone attack on an innocent Afghan family and weapons transfers to support the Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza despite federal law forbidding those transfers.
CLICK HERE: DEMAND UNH & HARVARD DROP SULLIVAN AND MCGURK!
On March 18, CAIR sent letters to Harvard University President Alan M. Garber and Harvard Kennedy School Dean of Faculty Jeremy Weinstein, and University of New Hampshire (UNH) President Elizabeth Chilton and UNH Carsey School of Public Policy Director Stephen Bird, calling for on both university’s to “immediately revoke” Sullivan and McGurk’s appointments.
READ: CAIR Letter to Harvard University
READ: CAIR’s Letter to University of New Hampshire
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Mitchell said:
“Government officials who flout federal law, lie to the American public, and enable deadly foreign policy catastrophes should not be able to cash out on their disastrous time in office by failing up and taking up cushy positions at prominent colleges and universities.
“Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk spent four years acting as shadow presidents and executing foreign policy disaster after foreign policy disaster, from the botched U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan to President Biden’s embrace of dictators he once pledged to ostracize to the horrific genocide in Gaza.
“Mr. Sullivan and Mr. McGurk are poster boys for the worst of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. They were not just civil servants carrying out the president’s orders. They were political appointees who developed, justified and executed policies that led to war crimes. They are just as accountable for the deadly and disastrous results as President Biden.
“In a sane and moral society, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. McGurk would be condemned for enabling so much death and destruction and not given the opportunity to make money by teaching university students how they did it.
“We call on the University of New Hampshire and Harvard University to immediately reverse these unconscionable hiring decisions, which give new meaning to the concept of failing up and show a racist disregard for the tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians Brett McGurk and Jake Sullivan helped slaughter.”
Jake Sullivan was recently appointed by the University of New Hampshire as a senior fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy and by Harvard to serve at the Kennedy School as the inaugural Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order, effective April 1, 2025.
CAIR notes that Henry Kissinger, a former U.S. national security advisor and secretary of state, is often dubbed America’s “most notorious war criminal” – a figure that is somewhat fitting for Sullivan to be associated with.
Brett McGurk has also recently joined the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School as a non-resident Senior Fellow.
CAIR believes that Sullivan and McGurk should not be rewarded for their deadly and destructive U.S. foreign policy decisions by “failing up.”
Despite mounting criticism and evidence of grave harm caused to civilians, Sullivan and McGurk have each secured influential academic posts:
- Jake Sullivan: As National Security Advisor from 2021 to 2025, he was a “chief architect” of the Biden Administration’s disastrous 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal, during which a wrongful U.S. drone strike killed an innocent Afghan family. Under Sullivan’s leadership, no one was held accountable for this act, which many – including CAIR – denounce as a war crime. Simultaneously, Sullivan coordinated the Biden administration’s unwavering support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza—facilitating arms shipments, providing diplomatic cover, and consistently affirming Israel’s genocidal actions despite clear evidence of systematic violence against Palestinian civilians.
- Brett McGurk: Rose to prominence across multiple administrations, shaping U.S. drone warfare policy in Afghanistan as Senior Director for Iraq and Afghanistan under President George W. Bush, and later as a key adviser under Presidents Obama and Biden. In the Biden administration, McGurk served as the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, overseeing U.S. policy as Israel carried out genocidal attacks on Gaza. McGurk also orchestrated continued U.S. military support for Israel’s lethal operations, thereby enabling the mass killing and displacement of Palestinian civilians.
- Sullivan & McGurk: Both facilitated the U.S. government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza by continuing illegal transfers of American-made weapons to Israel. They brazenly violated domestic statutes—including the Leahy Law, Section 620I, and Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act—and disregarded U.S. policy banning weapons transfers to countries like Israel that are engaged in war crimes and the deprivation of humanitarian aid.
By granting these individuals platforms at respected universities, UNH and Harvard effectively dismiss the suffering of those who bore the brunt of Sullivan’s and McGurk’s foreign policy failures and send a dangerous message about what is tolerated and even rewarded in academia.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com