home > about cfr > leadership and staff > kenneth m. pollack
Director of Research, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
Contact Info:
E-mail: kpollack@brookings.edu
Media downloads:
High-resolution photo (JPG, 23K)
Middle East; Military and security affairs; Persian Gulf
Experience:Past Positions
Director for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations (2001-2002); Director for Persian Gulf Affairs, National Security Council (1999-2001); Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs, National Security Council (1995-1996); Senior Research Professor, National Defense University (1998-99, 2001); Iran-Iraq Military Analyst, Central Intelligence Agency (1988-1995)
"Next Stop Baghdad?" (Foreign Affairs, March/April 2002)
The Arabs at War: Arab Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991 (University of Nebraska Press, forthcoming 2002)
"Prospects for Improved Arab Military Effectiveness" (RAND Report for Project Air Force, forthcoming 2001, the RAND Corporation)
"Armies of Snow and Armies of Sand," (Middle East Journal, Fall 2001, with Michael Eisenstadt)
"Bin Laden's Group Will Survive Him," (Newsday, September 25, 2001, with Daniel Byman)
"Beef Up the Taliban's Enemy," (Los Angeles Times, September 20, 2001, with Daniel Byman and Gideon Rose)
"Game Plan: How to Win a War Against Al Qaeda," (Asian Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2001)
"Let Us Now Praise Great Men: Bringing the Statesman Back In," (International Security, Spring 2001, with Daniel Byman)
"The Rollback Fantasy," (Foreign Affairs, January/February 1999, with Daniel Byman and Gideon Rose)
Past Research Project
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
September/October 2008
Podcast
This audio includes readings of selected articles from the July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs.
See more in United States
August 5, 2008
Op-Ed
New York Times
“Having recently returned from a research trip to Iraq, we are convinced that a total withdrawal of combat troops any time soon would be unwise,” write Stephen Biddle, Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack. Although recent success in Iraq has prompted more calls for withdrawal, a continued American presence is needed to preserve the fragile peace in that country.
See more in Iraq, Conflict Assessment
August 2, 2007
Interview
Kenneth M. Pollack, a leading expert on Iraq, says his latest trip to Iraq showed the country was “a mess,” but there were also significant improvements on the ground as a result of the U.S. “surge” policy.
See more in Iraq, Defense Strategy
January 30, 2007
Interview
Kenneth M. Pollack says Democrats should give President Bush’s new Iraq plan a chance, but also prepare alternatives.
See more in Iran, Iraq, Wars and Warfare, Congress, Presidency
January 2007
Must Read
The Brookings Institution says that ‘with each passing day, Iraq sinks deeper into the abyss of civil war.’ It considers how the United States could stop the slide into all-out war, and what actions the US should take if it becomes clear that Iraq cannot be saved from such a conflict. The report considers the history of civil wars in the recent past, and draws a set of lessons regarding how civil wars can affect the interests of other countries, even distant ones like the United States, and then used those lessons to fashion a set of recommendations for how Washington might begin to develop a new strategy for an Iraq caught up in all-out civil war.
See more in Iraq, Conflict Prevention
November 1, 2006
Transcript
Ray Takeyh, Kenneth Pollack, and Barbara Slavin provide an inside glimpse of the domestic politics that shape the country’s actions on the world stage, as well as some policy prescriptions for dealing with Iran.
See more in Iran, U.S. Strategy and Politics
November 1, 2006
Audio
Listen to Kenneth M. Pollack, senior fellow and director of research at the Brookings Institution, and Ray Takeyh, the Council's senior fellow for Middle East studies, discuss the domestic forces inside Iran that influence it's foreign policy decisions.
See more in Iran, U.S. Strategy and Politics
October 13, 2006
Interview
A leading proponent of invading Iraq, Kenneth M. Pollack now fears Iraq could end up worse off than it was under Saddam Hussein.
See more in Middle East, Wars and Warfare
April 5, 2006
Video
Watch a discussion on what the United States should do in response to Iran developing a nuclear program, and Iran’s likely responses to each policy option. Part three of a three-part symposium.
See more in Iran, Proliferation
April 5, 2006
Audio
Listen to a discussion on what the United States should do in response to Iran developing a nuclear program and how Iran is likely to react to each policy option.
See more in Iran, Proliferation
April 5, 2006
Transcript
A discussion on what the United States should do in response to Iran developing a nuclear program, and Iran’s likely responses to each policy option. Part three of a three-part symposium.
See more in Iran, Proliferation
February 14, 2006
Must Read
See more in Iraq, Nation Building
February 14, 2006
Interview
Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution outlines a plan to re-shift the U.S. strategy in Iraq as it relates to security, economics, and politics.
See more in Iraq, Nation Building
October 17, 2005
Interview
November 8, 2004
Video
See more in Iran
November 8, 2004
Transcript
See more in Iran
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