Photo: CSIS
WASHINGTON, DC – September 16, 2025 – The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) announced today that Ambassador (ret.) Michael Ratney and Ambassador (ret.) Susan L. Ziadeh have been appointed as non-resident senior advisers with the CSIS Middle East Program.
Ambassadors Ratney and Ziadeh are both highly distinguished U.S. diplomats and have served in senior postings throughout the Middle East, in addition to having extensive experience in academia and think tanks. Ambassador Ratney was most recently the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Ambassador Ziadeh was most recently the acting principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs.
“I am thrilled to welcome both Ambassador Ratney and Ambassador Ziadeh to CSIS,” said Mona Yacoubian, senior adviser and director of the Middle East Program. “They are among the most respected career diplomats from the U.S. foreign service. Their deep experience in the Middle East and depth of knowledge of the region will be a tremendous asset to the Middle East Program at a time of enormous flux and peril.”
Ambassador Ratney served for over three decades as a distinguished U.S. diplomat and has been at the center of high-profile diplomatic initiatives throughout the Middle East. Prior to serving as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ratney served as the chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy to Israel in 2021, where he was responsible for conduct of U.S. diplomacy with Israel, as well as diplomatic engagement with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. From 2015 to 2017, he served as the U.S. special envoy for Syria where he was responsible for U.S. relations with the Syrian opposition and led diplomatic engagements on Syria with partners in Europe and the Middle East, as well as ceasefire negotiations with Russia. Ratney speaks Arabic and French, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and earned a master’s from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s from Boston University.
“The Middle East is traversing a period of remarkable changes, some quite worrisome, but also some extraordinarily auspicious,” said Ratney. “I am honored to join the team at CSIS to help the policy community and the broader public understand and navigate these developments and grapple with their potentially profound implications for U.S. national security.”
Ambassador Susan L. Ziadeh is a recognized expert on the Middle East and served over two decades in senior diplomatic positions across the region. She was most recently acting principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, and the deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Peninsula Affairs from 2014 to 2016. From 2011 to 2014, she served as the U.S. ambassador to Qatar, and has held senior leadership positions in Riyadh, Baghdad, and Bahrain as well as postings in Kuwait, Amman, and Jerusalem. Ziadeh is currently a Middle East strategic adviser based in Washington, D.C., and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. She is a member of the Middle East Institute’s board of governors, the International Advisory Council for the American University of Beirut, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. A former Fulbright scholar in Egypt and Lebanon, Ziadeh is fluent in Arabic. She earned a PhD. from the University of Michigan, a master’s from the American University of Beirut, a master of science from the National War College at the National Defense University, and a bachelor’s from the University of Washington.
Ziadeh said, “I am truly delighted to be joining colleagues at CSIS to help assess developments in the Middle East and chart ways forward for regional security and economic growth which align with U.S. national security interests.”
CSIS’s Middle East Program conducts research and analysis in response to emerging trends, opportunities, and pressures in the Middle East and North Africa and seeks to contribute to the policy debate in the United States and abroad. To learn more and read recent analyses from the CSIS Middle East Program, visit here.