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Senior Fellow for Defense Policy
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-202-509-8476
E-mail: sbiddle@cfr.org
Location:
Washington, DC
Media downloads:
High-resolution photo (JPG, 288K)
One-page bio (PDF, 66K)
CV (PDF, 149K)
Video clip (MP4, 1.7 MB)
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
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 & 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
November 24, 2008
Audio
Listen to Council on Foreign Relations experts Stephen Biddle and Daniel Markey discuss a recent week-long visit they took to Afghanistan on invitation from top U.S. military commander Gen. David McKiernan.
See more in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Defense/Homeland Security
November 24, 2008
Transcript
A Council on Foreign Relations conference call with CFR senior fellows Stephen Biddle and Daniel Markey after their recent return from a trip to Afghanistan.
See more in Afghanistan, National Security and Defense
September 25, 2008
Must Read
This monograph assesses the claim that future warfare is a matter of nonstate actors employing irregular methods against Western states through a detailed analysis of Hezbollah’s military behavior, coupled with deductive inference from observable Hezbollah behavior in the field to findings for their larger strategic intent for the campaign.
See more in Lebanon, International Peace and Security
September 22, 2008
Audio
Listen to CFR fellows discuss topics such as U.S. relations with Asia, Russia, and Europe, as well as the financial crisis, nuclear terrorism, and climate change, as they relate to the presidential foreign policy debate.
See more in U.S. Strategy and Politics, U.S. Election 2008
September 22, 2008
Transcript
Perspective on the Presidential Foreign Policy Debate.
See more in United States, Congress, Foreign Policy History, Public Diplomacy
September 18, 2008
Audio
Listen to Stephen Biddle, senior fellow for defense policy at CFR, discuss his recent Foreign Affairs article, "How to Leave a Stable Iraq," with students as part of the CFR Academic Conference Call Series.
See more in Iraq, Defense Strategy, Democracy Promotion
September 8, 2008
Transcript
A discussion of how to proceed in Iraq, and what the following steps within that country should be.
See more in Iraq, Democracy and Human Rights, Economics, Society and Culture, U.S. Strategy and Politics
September 8, 2008
Video
With violence down and U.S. troop deaths at their lowest point since the Iraq war began, military analysts are in near-agreement that Iraq is more secure today. But CFR's Stephen Biddle and Steven Simon disagree on how to ensure stability continues. They discuss their views during this inaugural Foreign Affairs Live debate.
See more in Iraq, Defense Strategy, U.S. Strategy and Politics
September 8, 2008
Audio
With violence down and U.S. troop deaths at their lowest point since the Iraq war began, military analysts are in near-agreement that Iraq is more secure today. But CFR's Stephen Biddle and Steven Simon disagree on how to ensure stability continues. They discuss their views during this inaugural Foreign Affairs Live debate.
See more in Iraq, National Security and Defense, Conflict Assessment
September/October 2008
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
The situation in Iraq is improving. With the right strategy, the United States will eventually be able to draw down troops without sacrificing stability.
See more in Iraq, Civil Reconstruction
September/October 2008
Podcast
From the September/October 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs: The next U.S. president will face problems that will require strength and a renewed sense of national purpose to solve.
See more in Iraq, Civil Reconstruction
Explore international efforts to curb nuclear proliferation with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
The Canadian oil sands present an important challenge to policymakers: they promise energy security benefits but present climate change problems. Michael A. Levi assesses the energy security and climate change effects of the oil sands and makes recommendations for U.S. policymakers within the context of broader bilateral relations with Canada.
This report explores an important element of the maritime policy regime: the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Author Scott G. Borgerson examines the international negotiations that led to the convention, the history of debates in the United States over whether to join it, and the strategic importance of the oceans for U.S. foreign policy today.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
In War of Necessity, War of Choice, Richard N. Haass contrasts the decisions that shaped the conduct of two wars between the United States and Iraq involving the two presidents Bush and Saddam Hussein, and writes an authoritative, personal account of how U.S. foreign policy is made, what it should seek, and how it should be pursued.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba’s unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
As Ray Takeyh shows in Guardians of the Revolution, behind the famous personalities and extremist slogans of Iran is a nation that is far more pragmatic—and complex—than many in the West have been led to believe.
Complete list of CFR Books
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Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
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