I am told that Dan Shapiro will be Senior Director or Director for Near East Affairs at the National Security Council. Shapiro wrote many of Obama's Middle East speeches during the campaign, and acted as a liaison to the Jewish community. Earlier
he worked for Senaor Bill Nelson of Florida, and played a major role in drafting the 2003 Syria Accountability Act,. Prior to that he served on the NSC during the Clinton administration as Congressional liaison for National Security Adviser Sandy Berger. From 1995-1999, he was legislative assistant and senior foreign policy adviser to California Democratic Party Senator Dianne Feinstein, now Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. From 1993-1995, he was a professional staff member on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, under Chairman Lee H. Hamilton.
As previously reported, Mark W. Lippert, Obama's chief Senate aide for foreign policy and a Navy reservist who just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, will be chief of staff at the NSC.