Brett McGurk, former White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa and author of Brink (available Oct. 6, 2026), takes us inside the high-stakes negotiations to free the October 7 hostages and secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
McGurk led U.S. diplomacy on some of the region’s most consequential challenges, offering a rare firsthand look at the negotiations and decisions that continue to shape the Middle East today.
The details:
When: Thursday, October 15 | 7:00pm-8:00pm EDT
Where: Zoom Webinar
Tickets: No charge, RSVP Required
Meet the Guest
Brett McGurk served as a top national security advisor under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. He has been involved in U.S. military strategy, diplomacy, and foreign policy for nearly two decades, most recently as Obama and Trump’s envoy leading the campaign to defeat ISIS. He served as a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist on the U.S. Supreme Court from 2001 to 2002, and was at the Court on the morning of 9/11, a day that changed history and his life. McGurk is currently the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute where he teaches and lectures on presidential decision-making in wartime.
He is the author of the forthcoming book Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages, available October 6th, 2026.
Meet the Host
Jim Falk is Vice Chairman of the Board of Global Santa Fe, a member organization of the World Affairs Councils of America. He is the host of WorldNow with Jim Falk and the producer and host of The Forum, the weekly public affairs program on KSFR-FM, Santa Fe Community Radio (KSFR.org). A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Falk led the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth as President and CEO from 2001 to 2021, helping expand the organization's role as one of the nation's leading forums for international affairs and public policy. His guests have included diplomats, senior intelligence officials, policymakers, military leaders, scholars, journalists, and bestselling authors from around the world. Through WorldNow and The Forum, he continues his commitment to fostering informed, civil dialogue on the international, political, social, and cultural issues shaping our world.
About the Book
Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages by Brett McGurk
The first major insider account of the high-stakes negotiations to free the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7—written in gripping detail by the American mediator who was in the room through it all.
Having served four American presidents on matters of war and peace, Brett McGurk was no stranger to high-stakes diplomacy, but this was different. With American citizens missing, the hostages’ release critical to ending the war in Gaza, and the desperate situation for civilians, McGurk and his team faced impossible tradeoffs at every turn. Caught between Hamas’s maximalist demands and Israel’s determination that Hamas could not maintain power in Gaza, McGurk and his colleagues worked relentlessly over fifteen months to get a deal that most increasingly thought impossible.
Taking readers inside McGurk’s discussions and negotiations with President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, and presidents, generals, spies, and diplomats in Qatar, Egypt, Oman, and more, Brink paints a portrait of a region one wrong choice away from tipping into total war, as Iran and its proxy militias seized upon the chaos to open fire on Israeli and American targets. With the 2024 election reshaping the political landscape and time running out on the hostages, McGurk found himself working hand in hand with an unlikely partner—Trump’s emissary from the New York real estate world, Steve Witkoff. They forged a bipartisan front when it mattered most—to secure a ceasefire and save lives.
A gripping account of diplomacy under fire, Brink takes readers from the Oval Office to the seats of power in the Middle East and offers a remarkable look inside a crisis that reshaped the world, the consequences of which are still unfolding today.
Pre-order a copy of Brink, available October 6, on Bookshop.org and support your local bookstore.
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The World Affairs Council of Connecticut provides a platform for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas on global issues. The views expressed by speakers and contributors to this organization’s public programs—in person, online, and through affiliated social media sites— are solely their own and do not necessarily represent the official policies or positions of CTWAC, its individual staff, board members, members, or sponsors. As a nonpartisan and nonpolitical organization, CTWAC’s purpose is to foster informed discussion and greater understanding of the world, without endorsing any particular viewpoint.
