Nail Al-Jubeir, director of the information office at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and brother to Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir (previously Saudi Ambassador to the United States), has written an op-ed in Politico on the deep and well-established programs in place to enable the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to work together to “suffocate terrorism.”
The op-ed, written on a very similar topic to the first op-ed published by the new Ambassador to Washington, Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki, refutes the idea that there is a “strain in relations” between the United States and Saudi Arabia when it comes to countering terrorism or sharing intelligence. “That could not be further from the truth. Our goals and shared national interests are the same — especially when it comes to combating terrorism and terror financing,” Al-Jubeir said.
Aware that a frequent criticism of Saudi Arabia in western media outlets is on the subject of terror financing, Al-Jubeir points to a recent cooperative effort by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to break up a terrorist financing network that extended to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“Tracking the origins of financing is the most elusive piece in the puzzle of the war on terrorism. But Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Department of the Treasury and FBI have been steadily working together since 2004 to shut down terror financing operations by sharing intelligence and undertaking combined enforcement actions to publicize and punish the sources of terrorist funding.”
“Even with the steps we’ve already taken, with more to follow, it is only in partnership with the United States that we can eradicate terrorism and shut down its financing networks. There is no more significant issue that strongly binds our countries,” Al-Jubeir writes.
Nail Al-Jubeir is an experienced and seasoned diplomat who keeps a relatively low public profile; mostly commenting to news outlets to confirm or deny reports.
The Al-Jubeir family has produced several capable and well-respected Saudi diplomats. In additon to Adel Al-Jubeir and Nail Al-Jubeir, their sister, Nahlah Al-Jubeir, serves as Director for the Center for Career Development with the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM). SACM oversees the over 100,000 Saudi students and dependents now in the United States and Ms. Al-Jubeir’s focus is connecting Saudi students with potential job and internship opportunities.
