Sam Nunn on Iran, Congress and why he never ran for president

Talking to Nunn on the campus of Georgia Tech this week, where the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs was sponsoring a symposium on the effects of artificial intelligence on national security, it was hard not to see a man who should have been president, even if he decided it wasn’t what he wanted at the time.

In today’s hyperpartisan, hot-take political world, Nunn’s brand of sober judgment, deep knowledge and foreign policy expertise would fill a void that feels long gone, but needed now more than ever.

I should add here that I was once an entry-level staffer in Nunn’s Atlanta office. I certainly played no role in war and peace, but in every job in the office, we knew our role was to meet the standard of service he was setting every day.

Even though he retired from Congress in 1997, the 87-year-old Nunn still spends his days trying to solve the existential threats the world has created for itself, particularly when it comes to foreign policy and weapons of war.

So President Donald Trump’s decision last month to attack Iran to degrade its nuclear capabilities, among other reasons, is something Nunn is paying close attention to.

“It was a legitimate reason, when Iran crossed the 60% (uranium enrichment) mark for us to go to war,” he said. “Was war the best way, the only way? I don’t think so. I think diplomacy was still at least possible.”

But now that the U.S. has begun the war, Nunn cautioned that the task of locating and dealing with Iran’s nuclear materials remains essential, but very difficult. “It was one of the reasons we went into Iran, and that is still on the to do list.”

A second reason that Trump has given for going into Iran was regime change, now with an “unconditional surrender.” But Nunn warned that path could lead to deeper conflict and even more unintended consequences, including the need for American ground forces.

“I understand the sentiment, because the Iranian regime has been brutal and unforgivably violent toward their own citizens,” he said. “We cannot challenge all the bad leaders in the world. That’s a severe case of overreach and would damage our own security.”

More generally, Nunn said that the United States has broader strategic challenges around the globe, particularly with regard to containing Russia and China, while also engaging China in the global economy.

“The way I look at the world, the Middle East is part of it. The nuclear challenge was there,” he said. “But we have larger vital interests. And it’s not in our vital interest to be bogged down in a ground war in the Middle East.”

This is all the kind of advice that Nunn would have given a president if he were still in the Senate. But the House and Senate have both been sidelined by the Trump administration, particularly on foreign policy.

“I think Congress has defaulted on its responsibility under the War Powers Act and, more important, under the Constitution,” Nunn said. “Trump is not the first one to more or less disregard the War Powers Act, but he’s gone much further than that.”

He’s also concerned that there have been no congressional hearings about Iran until today.

“If the wheels come off and things go wrong in Iran, you’re not going to have Congress on board,” he said, adding that Trump also did not get America’s allies on board, with the important exception of Israel. “It’s a mistake, from President Trump’s point of view, because he’s going to need support if this is an extended war.”

The good news in Iran, Nunn said, is that the U.S. and Israel are dominating the air war and have destroyed much of Iran’s navy, missiles, drones and ability to strike outside its own borders.

But Iran has blocked a crucial global oil route though the Strait of Hormuz, and the nuclear threat remains.

“These are unfinished tasks, and I think to ignore them and act like it’s all over would be a mistake,” he said. “We need to work through allies. Even when we get frustrated with allies, they are very valuable when you need them, and I think we’re finding that out right now.”

Although Nunn spoke at length about the situation in Iran for our interview, he is usually more focused on the kinds of dangerous national security threats most people have never considered.v

His “pet rock” is an initiative to get every nuclear-armed country in the world to have a fail-safe, independent review of their vulnerability to an accidental or false nuclear warning that could trigger an accidental response. “All of those things have gone up enormously in the digital, AI world,” he said.

Preparing future diplomats and leaders for that new world is another project for Nunn. He announced on Wednesday a new endowment for global intelligence studies at the Sam Nunn School. He named it for his wife, Colleen, who was a CIA operative at the American embassy in Paris when the two met in the early 1960s.

“I have given her gifts for anniversaries,” he said with a smile, “But I’ve never created something that’s permanent.”

Sam Nunn may not have seen a president looking back in the mirror 30 years ago, but by now he should see a man who has continued to make the country and the world a safer place every day since then, which may be even more important.