National security adviser defends saying Middle East region was ‘quieter’ days before Hamas attack

Eight days before Hamas launched its fatal attack on Israel, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had described the Middle East region as “quieter” than it had been in two decades. He defended those remarks on "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

Eight days before Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel, national security adviser Jake Sullivan had described the Middle East region as “quieter” than it had been in two decades. He defended the remarks Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press."

“Jake, why was your assessment there so far off the mark?” NBC News' Kristen Welker asked.

Sullivan said he made those comments “in the context of developments in the wider Middle East region over the last few years.”

He cited “two decades that involved a civil war in Yemen and a massive humanitarian catastrophe, a civil war in Syria and a massive refugee crisis and invasion and insurgency in Iraq, a NATO military operation in Libya, Iranian-backed attacks on both Saudi and the UAE, as well as many other steps, including the rise of a terrorist caliphate that actually occupied a huge amount of territory.”

Speaking at The Atlantic Festival eight days before Hamas attacked, Sullivan said: "The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades now. Now challenges remain — Iran's nuclear weapons program, the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians — but the amount of time that I have to spend on crisis and conflict in the Middle East today compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9/11 is significantly reduced."