Jake Sullivan

National Security Advisor (2021-2025)

Current: Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order, Harvard Kennedy School; Co-host, The Long Game for Vox

Biden’s National Security Advisor and chief architect of his national security policy, Jake Sullivan played a crucial role in overseeing the genocide. In addition to ensuring the flow of weapons to Israel—which violated the Leahy Law, Section 620I, and Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act—Sullivan provided rhetorical cover for the siege and bombing campaign. 

In May of 2024, Sullivan told reporters, “We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. We have been firmly on record rejecting that proposition.” At that point, Israel’s attacks had killed at least 35,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and UN officials had declared a “full-blown famine” in northern Gaza. The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and the country of South Africa had accused Israel of committing acts of genocide.

Sullivan added that the United States was working toward a ceasefire. Yet Biden never demanded a ceasefire, as Michael Herzog, the former Israeli ambassador to the US, confirmed in April of 2025. 

Sullivan simultaneously downplayed the influence of the U.S.—which is Israel’s top weapons supplier, and held and continues to hold tremendous sway. “[Israel’s] prime minister doesn't have to answer to us,” Sullivan said. 

Additionally, Sullivan sought in many ways to control the narrative both publicly and internally. Sullivan co-led the National Security Council, which, under his tenure, distributed a list to USAID workers containing words and phrases that were prohibited from internal presentation. The list was so strict that any version of “State of Palestine” was verboten that didn’t have the word “future” first, according to ProPublica. USAID workers were instructed, for example, not to say “Palestinian residents of Jerusalem,” but rather “non-Israeli residents of Jerusalem.”