The fourth round of the US-Greek Strategic Dialogue in Athens this week was widely seen as another positive step towards deepening the strategic relationship between the two countries. Thanks to successive governments in both Greece and the United States, the work of successive Greek and US ambassadors, and the attention and legislative guidance given to this alliance by the US Congress, the relationship between Athens and Washington far exceeds anything that could have been predicted. when Anthony Blinken left the State Department at the end of the Obama administration.

But the proper benchmark for that relationship should not be President Obama’s 2016 trip to Greece, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s 2020 trip. As I watched Secretary of State Mr. Blinken leave Athens, it was impossible not to think of this song. from Michael Jordan’s “Be Like Mike” ad.

Before you start whining that I’m missing out on the progress that has been made, let me be clear: The Biden administration continues to build on this strategic relationship and keeps it on track. However, Secretary Pompeo gave Secretary Blinken a starting point, and there is no doubt that he did not make the most of it. To understand what it is reasonable for Greece to expect from the US, let’s look at what benefits Secretary Blinken inherited when he returned to Foggy Bottom: a) the new direction of US policy in the Eastern Mediterranean, opened by former Assistant Secretary of State Wes Mitchell b) Energy and Security Partnership Act Eastern Mediterranean 2019, (c) 3+1 agreement (Greece-Cyprus-Israel + US), (d) unprecedented Congressional interest in the region and especially US-Greece relations.

And most importantly, with the Mitsotakis government, he inherited a partner who led Greece’s transition from a “pillar of stability” to a leading role in the region. Do you need a reliable partner for energy diplomacy? From gas connections in the Balkans, liquefied natural gas plants and floating regasification units, natural gas exploration and renewable energy development, Greece is more than a source of stability – it is an indispensable partner. The same can be said about attempts to introduce the “West” into the Western Balkans. The Mitsotakis government has become a bulwark against Russian and Chinese influence in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, accelerated regional integration and cooperation, and helped the West develop important new security tools and power projection capabilities in the region. Even in the face of unprecedented aggression from Turkey, the Mitsotakis government preferred Teddy Roosevelt’s mantra of “Speak softly and hold a long stick” instead of the theatrical backlash that might have been expected in the past.

Secretary Pompeo gave Mr. Blinken a starting point, and there is no doubt that the latter did not use it.

Of all the opportunities that Blinken’s Foreign Office has inherited and squandered, one stands out. In Pompeo’s book Never Back Down, the former secretary of state praises a major diplomatic initiative: “For the first time in 2019, the US secretary of state appeared at the trilateral Israel-Greece-Cyprus meeting to discuss energy exploration in the area.” Even with COVID, the US elections, Israel and Cyprus and the war in Ukraine, the excuses for not holding a 3+1 meeting at the ministerial level are frankly far-fetched.

The State Department keeps repeating that more work needs to be done at a lower level before the foreign secretary and ministers meet. However, there are few signs of significant progress on this front. And with the scale of turnover at this low level – the government already has a second director for Southern Europe, a third coordinator for the Eastern Mediterranean and expects changes at the level of undersecretaries of state and at the level of heads of geographic sectors – Common sense dictates that the Foreign Office needs guidance from above on “3+1” rather than a secretary of state waiting for the ever-changing crowd to be briefed before getting directly involved. The Greece-Cyprus-Israel trilateral meeting gave impetus to a historic level of cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean. Failure to continue where Mr. Pompeo left off, or even to seriously signal the administration’s commitment to the 3+1, is a diplomatic mistake.

After serving two years as Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken is well acquainted with all the players in the region, has his own ambassadors in Athens, Nicosia and Jerusalem, and has the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Bob Menendez) who gave him the legislative tools and political cover to expand participation. USA in 3+1. It’s time for a course correction by the Secretary of State before we all start saying out loud what we think: We miss Mike Pompeo.

Mr. Eddie Zemenidis is Executive Director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC).