Today we’re joined by Judd Devermont, one of the most experienced Africa policy hands in Washington. He spent 16 years as an intelligence analyst, serving in both the Obama and Biden administrations. Most recently, he was Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. He authored the Biden administration’s Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa. Since leaving government in early 2024, he writes a newsletter called Post Strategy, reflecting on what works and what doesn’t in US policy toward Africa.

We discuss

* What “care and feeding” means in diplomacy

* What went wrong with the relationships with Niger

* The problem with envoys

* Whether the NSC has been neutered under Trump

* Why most intelligence analysis doesn’t cut it anymore

The full transcript for this conversation is at www.statecraft.pub.

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