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Burke Chair in Strategy

About Dr. Anthony H. Cordesman

Dr. Anthony H Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS. He is also a national security analyst for ABC News. His analysis has been featured prominently during the Gulf War, Desert Fox, the conflict in Kosovo, the fighting in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.

 

During his time at CSIS, Cordesman has been director of the Gulf Net Assessment Project and the Gulf in Transition Study, as well as the principle investigator of the CSIS Homeland Defense Project. He has led studies on national missile defense, asymmetric warfare and weapons of mass destruction, and critical infrastructure protection. He directed the CSIS Middle East Net Assessment Project and acted as co-director of the CSIS Strategic Energy Initiative.

 

He is the author of a wide range of studies on U.S. security policy, energy policy, and Middle East policy. Professor Cordesman has formerly served as national security assistant to Senator John McCain of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as director of intelligence assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and as civilian assistant to the deputy secretary of defense. He directed the analysis of the lessons of the October War for the secretary of defense in 1974, coordinating U.S. military, intelligence, and civilian analysis of the conflict. He has served in numerous other government positions, including at the U.S. Department of State and on the NATO International Staff. Cordesman served as director of policy and planning for resource applications at the Department of Energy. He has had numerous foreign assignments as well -- including posts in Lebanon, Egypt, and Iran -- and has worked extensively in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

 

Professor Cordesman is the author of more than 45 books, including a four-volume series on the lessons of modern war. His most recent books include:

  • The Global Oil Market: Risks and Uncertainties
  • Iraqi Security Forces; A Strategy for Success
  • Iran’s Developing Military Capabilities
  • The War After the War: Strategic Lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan
  • The Iraq War: Strategy, Tactics, and Military Lessons
  • The Lessons of Afghanistan
  • Saudi Arabia Enters the 21st Century (Two Volumes)
  • The Lessons of Afghanistan; Terrorism, Asymmetric Warfare, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
  • Cyberthreats, Information Warfare, and Critical Infrastructure Protection
  • Strategic Threats and National Missile Defenses

Dr. Cordesman has been awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Service medal, is a former adjunct professor of national security studies at Georgetown University, and has twice been a Wilson fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian.

 


Full list of Dr. Anthony H. Cordesman's publications

 

 

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