Sudan groups set sights on Obama deputies

Posted by Josh Rogin  Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - 11:12 AM

Frustrated by their inability to influence Sudan special envoy Scott Gration, Sudan advocacy groups are moving up the food chain, calling out senior Obama administration officials by name in a series of new ads.

The ads, to appear in the Washington Post and Politico starting Tuesday, take aim at officials who will be participating in a National Security Council deputies meeting this week on Sudan. They accompany a new strategy paper being circulated by Sudan advocacy groups calling on the administration to publicly disclose the measures by which it is evaluating progress in Sudan ahead of the coming elections.

"We're just trying to hold their feet to the fire," John Norris, CEO of the Enough project, told The Cable, "It's not an effort to demonize them, but we recognize they are key decision makers."

The ads name Susan Rice's deputy Erica Barks-Ruggles, NSC deputy Tom Donilon, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg, Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levy, and Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy.

"They are a hugely influential group of public officials that most of the public knows very little about," said Norris. Underlying the push is a feeling among groups that the Sudan issue has been put on the backburner since the administration's policy rollout last October.

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