home > the cfr think tank > experts > stephen biddle
Roger Hertog Senior Fellow for Defense Policy
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-202-509-8476
E-mail: sbiddle@cfr.org
Location:
Washington, DC
Media downloads:
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Award-winning author of Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle. Former associate professor and Elihu Root chair of military studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. Current work examines U.S. defense policy and strategy.
Expertise:U.S. national security policy; military strategy and the conduct of war; technology in modern warfare; recent operations in the war on terror.
Experience:Elihu Root Chair of Military Studies, U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute (2006); Associate Professor of National Security Studies, U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute (2001-2005); Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1998-2002); research staff member, Institute for Defense Analyses (1987-97).
Honors:Arthur Ross Book Award Silver Medal, Council on Foreign Relations (2005); Huntington Prize, Harvard University (2005); Koopman Prize, Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (2005); Madigan Award, Army War College Foundation (2005); U.S. Army Superior Civilian Service Medal (2003); Rist Prize, Military Operations Research Society (2000); Impact Prize, Military Operations Research Society (1999); Barchi Prize, Military Operations Research Society (1997).
Selected Publications:"The 2006 Lebanon Campaign and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy," Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College (September 2008); “Seeing Baghdad, Thinking Saigon: The Perils of Refighting Vietnam in Iraq,” Foreign Affairs (March/April 2006); “Allies, Air Power, and Modern Warfare,”International Security (Winter 2005-2006); Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle (Princeton University Press, 2004); “Democracy and Military Effectiveness: A Deeper Look,” Journal of Conflict Resolution (August 2004); “Afghanistan and the Future of Warfare,” Foreign Affairs (March/April 2003); “Victory Misunderstood: What the Gulf War Tells Us About the Future of Conflict,” International Security (Fall 1996); “Technology, Civil-Military Relations, and Warfare in the Developing World,” Journal of Strategic Studies (June 1996).
Related Links:
Stephen Biddle and Thomas Ricks discuss "'The Gamble:' Did the Surge Work?" (The Washington Post, February 9, 2009)
Council Senior Fellow Stephen Biddle’s Military Power Awarded Prize for Best Book on National Security Studies
Current Research Projects
January 27, 2010
Interview
Two key issues in Afghanistan are whether President Hamid Karzai will implement reforms and whether the American public is willing to invest the time it will take for a successful counterinsurgency, says CFR defense expert Stephen Biddle.
See more in Afghanistan, International Peace and Security
December 2, 2009
Interview
CFR's top defense policy expert Stephen Biddle says President Obama's announcement of a date for U.S. forces to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan could draw fire from wary Democrats, but also conveys that the U.S. "is uncomfortable with long stays."
See more in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Defense Strategy
October 20, 2009
Article
The New Republic
Stephen Biddle argues that "there is no magic middle way between the McChrystal recommendation and total withdrawal that offers comparable odds at lower cost" in Afghanistan.
See more in Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare
October 14, 2009
Testimony
Stephen Biddle testifies before the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services on the options before the U.S. in Afghanistan.
See more in United States, Afghanistan, Defense Strategy, National Security and Defense
September 23, 2009
Audio
Listen to Stephen Biddle and Kim Barker discuss U.S. strategy in Afghanistan in light of the release of General McChrystal's Afghan strategy report.
See more in United States, Afghanistan, Defense Strategy, Wars and Warfare
September 23, 2009, New York
Transcript
Stephen Biddle and Kim Barker discuss U.S. strategy in Afghanistan in light of the release of General McChrystal's Afghan strategy report.
See more in Afghanistan, Defense/Homeland Security, Defense Strategy
September 17, 2009
Audio
Listen to Stephen Biddle, CFR's senior fellow for defense policy, discuss U.S. policy toward Afghanistan in light of his recent trip to Afghanistan as a member of General Stanley A. McChrystal's strategic assessment group, as part of CFR's Academic Conference Call series.
See more in Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare
September 16, 2009
Testimony
Stephen Biddle testifies before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the case for war in Afghanistan.
See more in United States, Afghanistan, Defense Strategy, National Security and Defense
July 30, 2009
Interview
As military planners review strategy in the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan, CFR Senior Fellow Stephen Biddle says victory will be dependent on improving the capacity of the beleaguered Afghan government.
See more in Afghanistan, Defense Strategy, U.S. Strategy and Politics
July 30, 2009
Transcript
CFR's Stephen Biddle talks about the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.
See more in Afghanistan, Defense/Homeland Security, National Security and Defense
July 30, 2009
Audio
Listen to CFR Senior Fellow for Defense Policy Stephen Biddle, who just returned from a month-long trip to Afghanistan, discuss U.S. Strategy there.
See more in Afghanistan, Defense/Homeland Security, National Security and Defense
June 19, 2009
Expert Brief
In the next military budget Congress must provide funding for a wholesale shift toward counterinsurgency to win two wars. At the same time, policymakers must be mindful of the need for another transformation to anticipate future wars.
See more in United States, Defense Policy and Budget, Counterterrorism
July - August 2009
Article
American Interest
Stephen Biddle writes that the war in Afghanistan "is now poised to become perhaps the most controversial and divisive issue in U.S. defense policy."
See more in Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare, U.S. Strategy and Politics
May 12, 2009
Podcast
The replacement of the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan with a counterinsurgency expert could shift momentum, but CFR's Stephen Biddle says it might also anger Afghans who oppose U.S. special operations tactics.
See more in Afghanistan, Defense Strategy
May 2009
Other Report
Iraq is currently in the early stages of a negotiated end to an intense ethnosectarian war. As such, there are several contingencies in which recent, mostly positive trends in Iraq could be reversed, threatening U.S. national interests. This Center for Preventive Action Contingency Planning Memorandum by Stephen Biddle assesses four interrelated scenarios in Iraq that could derail the prospects for peace and stability in the short to medium term and posits concrete policy options to limit U.S. vulnerability to the possibility of such reversals.
See more in Iraq, U.S. Strategy and Politics
March 30, 2009
Interview
CFR's Stephen Biddle says President Obama's decision to add four thousand troops to train Afghan troops is "a reasonable first step" but that Obama faces huge challenges in standing up a viable Afghan army.
See more in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Defense Strategy
March 2, 2009
Interview
Stephen Biddle, a senior defense and counterterrorism analyst, says that President Obama's schedule for reducing and then ending the U.S. deployment in Iraq "is a reasonable compromise between several conflicting demands."
See more in Afghanistan, Iraq, U.S. Strategy and Politics
February 12, 2009
Testimony
See more in Afghanistan, Iraq, Wars and Warfare
January 23, 2009
Audio
Listen to CFR experts reflect on the immediate challenges facing the Obama administration in the greater Middle East.
See more in Middle East, Global Governance, International Peace and Security
January 23, 2009
Transcript
A panel of CFR Senior Fellows discusses the wide range of Middle East challenges that face the new administration and its special envoys.
See more in Middle East, Diplomacy
Explore the international oceans regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
This report explores how international legal rules regarding military force might evolve to better meet the challenges of mass atrocities.
The authors of this CSR explain why the United States needs to place greater emphasis on preventive action and how current organizational arrangements can be changed to meet that need.
This report addresses pan-Asian and trans-Pacific architectures and guidelines for how the United States can revise its approach in order to consolidate and improve the efficacy of these Asian institutions.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
Through compelling analysis and rich historical examples that span the globe and range from the thirteenth century through the present, Charles A. Kupchan explores how adversaries can transform enmity into amity, and exposes prevalent myths about the causes of peace.
With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine Israel's adversity-driven culture to offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
Vali Nasr reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
jlindsay@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
