A U.S.-Saudi Security Agreement?

About this project

The Biden administration has been negotiating a sweeping security agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, including treaty-backed U.S. defense guarantees and a commitment to develop a Saudi civil nuclear program. Despite extensive media reports, the terms of the deal have still not been made public by the Biden administration. Attempts to link a U.S. defense treaty with Saudi Arabia to diplomatic normalization between Riyadh and Israel, as part of a so-called "megadeal," have reportedly stalled. But the Biden administration is still pursuing a defense pact with the kingdom, said to be modeled on the U.S. defense treaty with Japan, which would make Saudi Arabia the only Arab country with a formal U.S. defense treaty.

To take stock of the proposed U.S.-Saudi deal and its implications for the Middle East and beyond, DAWN convened an expert workshop with prominent scholars and policy analysts, co-hosted with Georgetown University's Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Participants analyzed the deal's reported terms, what it would grant Saudi Arabia, and how it would transform the U.S.-Saudi relationship. They also debated the regional political context around such a security pact, including what it would mean for possible Saudi normalization with Israel and where would it leave the Palestinians. Finally, participants discussed the proposed deal's implications for wider U.S. foreign policy, including U.S. military primacy in the region and its rivalry with China.

Articles adapted from papers presented at the workshop have now been published in DAWN's journal, Democracy in Exile, along with a detailed report about the proceedings.

"Many of us in the advocacy community have been on autopilot, operating on the questionable assumption that the best strategy for U.S. engagement with abusive governments is placing human rights conditions on a part of its military aid, as opposed to insisting that all such aid end."

- Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of DAWN

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