After two decades in diplomacy, Ludo Hood weighs in on antisemitism, Ukraine and Washington's foreign policy battles

After stepping back from the foreign service following two decades of representation abroad, Ludo Hood is speaking openly about his career in diplomacy. The 53-year-old retired last week after postings in Kuwait, Bahrain, France and Qatar, most recently serving as a senior advisor to Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump's former special envoy for Ukraine, and previously as a close advisor to Deborah Lipstadt, the former U.S. Special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. His career also included work on Iran policy during the 2015 nuclear deal negotiations and Gulf relations during the Arab Spring, alongside antisemitism policy work following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.

Hood described a particularly "alarming and shocking" Moment at the State Department in the months after October 7, when the agency hosted listening sessions allowing staff to voice anti-Israel perspectives. "It was the only time in my career where active dissent against the elected presidents overall policy and strategic direction was allowed to be aired in the open, and was actually in many ways encouraged," He said. The sessions were hosted by then-Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell as some diplomats and Biden administration appointees expressed opposition to President Biden's Israel support. Hood criticized what he saw as pressure to defer to anti-Israel viewpoints, noting: "But its the State Department. We are national security professionals who are supposed to be implementing the policy of the duly elected president."

He was similarly critical of Biden administration policy requiring that antisemitism discussions be paired with mentions of Islamophobia. Hood called this approach "illogical and irrational," Stating that the coupling "undermines the fight against Muslim hatred or other forms of religious hatred to start conflating them for politicized reasons." He also noted institutional difficulty in elevating antisemitism in foreign policy discussions, particularly in Europe.

On Ukraine, Hood proved more sympathetic to Kyiv than many in the incoming Trump administration, viewing Kellogg as reflecting reality in his approach to the Russian invasion. The envoy's portfolio was later partially taken over by White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, with Kellogg stepping down in January. "It was frustrating to see how that played out, partly because the guy is a decent, honorable man who probably could have been treated better by some people operating in the White House and elsewhere," Hood said.

Hood criticized isolationist sentiment within Republican ranks, arguing instead for an assertive American foreign policy that avoids democracy promotion as a primary objective. "I think maybe democracy promotion, or even having a heavy focus on human rights, is probably at best naive, if not a lost cause, in some parts of the world," He reflected.

On the State Department layoffs that saw over 1,300 staffers cut last summer, Hood suggested some disruption was warranted but noted potential drawbacks: "What you dont have now is bottom-up information and recommendations being aired, discussed, debated."

Hood is joining the Hudson Institute, a think tank aligned with former Bush administration officials.