home > the cfr think tank > experts > william l. nash
Adjunct Senior Fellow for Military Affairs and Director of the Military Fellows Program
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-202-509-8423 or +1-202-509-8463
E-mail: wnash@cfr.org
Location:
Washington, DC
Media downloads:
One-page bio (PDF, 42K)
Retired Army general with experience in Iraq, Bosnia, and Kosovo. Directed the Council-sponsored Independent Task Force that produced the report In the Wake of War:Improving U.S. Post-Conflict Capabilities.
Expertise:Conflict prevention; national security; civil-military relations and coordination; post-conflict reconstruction.
Experience:Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University (2002-present); Visiting Lecturer, Princeton University (2004-present); military consultant, ABC News (current); Regional Administrator for Northern Kosovo, United Nations (2000); Director of Civil-Military Programs, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (1999-2000); Fellow and Visiting Lecturer, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (1998-99); Major General, U.S. Army’s First Armored Division, Commander of Task Force Eagle, Bosnia-Herzegovina (1995-97); United States Army (1964-98).
Honors:Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, Tufts University (2004); military awards from the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
Selected Publications:In the Wake of War: Improving U.S. Post-Conflict Capabilities, Report of an Independent Task Force (project director, Council on Foreign Relations Press, 2005); Forgotten Intervention: What the United States Needs to Do in the Western Balkans, A Council Special Report (coauthor, Council on Foreign Relations Press, 2005); “Forces in Iraq: Swing from Fighting to Policing,” International Herald Tribune (coauthor, 2003); Balkans 2010, A Center for Preventive Action Report (Council on Foreign Relations Press, 2002); “My Team Should Have Investigated Jenin,” Washington Post (2002); “Finding the Facts on Jenin Could Help Both Sides,” International Herald Tribune (2002); “The Laws of War: A Military View,” Ethics & International Affairs (Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, 2002); “Can Soldiers Be Peacekeepers and Warriors?” NATO Review (2001); “Freeing Kosovo’s Hostage Economy,” Washington Post (2000); “The ICC and the Deployment of U.S. Armed Forces,” in The United States and the International Criminal Court (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000); “NATO, Bosnia, and the Future,” in NATO at Fifty: Perspectives on the Future of the Atlantic Alliance (Center for Political and Strategic Studies, 1999); “Give the Russians a Chance,” New York Times (1999); “The Year of Living Creatively: Reflections on the Army’s First Year in Bosnia,” Armed Forces Journal International (1997).
Current Research Projects
Past Research Projects
June 12, 2008
Audio
Listen to CFR fellows Stephen Biddle and Vali Nasr discuss their recent trip to Iraq.
See more in Iraq
June 12, 2008
Transcript
Vali Nasr and Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellows at the Council on Foreign Relations, discuss the political climate and the status of security forces in Iraq following their recent visits to the region.
See more in Iraq, Wars and Warfare, Democracy and Human Rights, Nation Building
December 10, 2007
Video
Watch experts discuss the changes in conflict prevention work since the publication of the Carnegie Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflict's final report ten years ago.
See more in International Peace and Security, Conflict Prevention
December 10, 2007
Transcript
A Transcript of the Council on Foreign Relations symposium on the future of conflict prevention, session two.
See more in United States, Conflict Prevention
December 10, 2007
Audio
Listen to experts discuss the changes in conflict prevention work since the publication of the Carnegie Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflict's final report ten years ago.
See more in International Peace and Security, Conflict Prevention
May 7, 2007
News Release
“Few African countries are more important to U.S. interests than Angola. The second-largest oil producer in Africa, Angola’s success or failure in transitioning from nearly thirty years of war toward peace and democracy has implications for the stability of the U.S. oil supply as well as the stability of central and southern Africa,” finds a Council-sponsored Independent Commission in a report produced by the Center for Preventive Action, Toward an Angola Strategy: Prioritizing U.S.-Angola Relations.
See more in Angola, Nation Building
May 2007
Other Report
This report argues that Angola deserves priority attention in the formulation of U.S. foreign, national security, and economic policies, particularly in the design of policy toward Africa.
See more in Angola, Nation Building, Energy/Environment, Energy Security, Natural Resources Management, International Peace and Security, Civil Reconstruction, Conflict Prevention, U.S. Strategy and Politics
September 11, 2006
Testimony
See more in Iraq, Wars and Warfare, Civil Reconstruction
February 8, 2006
Transcript
See more in United States, Defense Policy & Budget, National Security and Defense
February 8, 2006
News Briefing
See more in United States, Defense Policy & Budget, National Security and Defense
November 9, 2005
Testimony
See more in United States, Nation Building
September 21, 2005
Interview
See more in Iraq, U.S. Strategy and Politics
September 2005
Task Force Report No. 55
Task Force Report
This Council-sponsored, independent Task Force points out that nation-building is not just a humanitarian concern, but a critical national security priority that should be on par with war-fighting and urges the United States to equalize the importance of the two. The report argues that the United States must acknowledge that “war-fighting has two important dimensions: winning the war and winning the peace.”
See more in Conflict Assessment, Conflict Prevention
July 27, 2005
Transcript
See more in Conflict Prevention, Conflict Assessment
July 27, 2005
Audio
See more in Conflict Prevention, Conflict Assessment
June 2005
Council Special Report No. 8
Council Special Report
This report identifies the principal steps that the United States can take to secure the investment it has made in the western Balkans and facilitate the region’s progress toward its rightful destiny within the EU. In doing so, Forgotten Intervention? lays out a straightforward and doable strategy for the United States that will pay dividends.
See more in Balkans
April 10, 2003
Testimony
See more in Balkans
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
In The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State, Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia—the law of the traditional Islamic state—in the modern Muslim world.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report outlines the nature of the challenges in Pakistan's tribal areas, formulates strategies for addressing those challenges, and distills the strategies into realistic policy proposals worthy of consideration by the incoming administration.
This report analyzes the debate over U.S. use of assurances against torture, explaining the contexts in which they are used, how they can be conveyed, and what they can contain, and recommends a number of ways to respond to criticism so that the United States can continue using assurances.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
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The David Rockefeller Studies Program is CFR’s “think tank.” Its work is integral to achieving CFR’s goal of contributing to the foreign policy debate. Fellows in the Studies Program do this by researching, writing, and commenting on the most important challenges facing the United States and the world.
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