One month after 9/11, Robert Jordan took the job of United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia – the country where 15 of the 19 hijackers called home. From the roots of Sunni extremism to the internal conflict in the days after 9/11, Robert gives us an inside look at the greatest power player in the Middle East and one of America’s most complicated alliances. What do U.S.-Saudi relations look like today, with China and Russia asserting more power in the region, the escalating threats from Iran, and the new dynamics of the war on terror?

Robert Jordan is diplomat in residence and adjunct professor of political science in the John G. Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2001-2003. He was a partner in the international law firm Baker Botts L.L.P. for many years and headed the firm’s Middle East practice based in Dubai. He is the author of “Desert Diplomat: Inside Saudi Arabia Following 9/11.”