Charles Edel

Senior Adviser and Australia Chair
Charles Edel

Charles Edel is a senior adviser and the inaugural Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He previously taught at the University of Sydney, where he was also a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre. Prior to that, Dr. Edel was a professor of strategy and policy at the U.S. Naval War College and served on the U.S. secretary of state’s Policy Planning Staff from 2015 to 2017. In that role, he advised the secretary of state on political and security issues in the Indo-Pacific region. He has also been a global fellow at the Wilson Center and a Henry Luce scholar at Peking University's Center for International and Strategic Studies, and he was awarded the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. He is the coauthor of The Lessons of Tragedy: Statecraft and World Order (Yale University Press, 2019) and author of Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (Harvard University Press, 2014). Currently, he is working on a book examining the United States' history of dealing with authoritarian regimes. In addition to his scholarly publications, his writings appear in the Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and various other outlets. He also regularly offers foreign policy commentary on television and radio, including CNBC, ABC, Sky News, Australia’s RN, and NPR. He is a New York native and former high school history teacher in New York City, and served as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Dr. Edel holds a PhD in history from Yale University and received a BA in classics from Yale College.

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What the Iran War Revealed About U.S. Power | The High Top

How has the U.S.-Iran war changed the way the world views American power? Jon Alterman and Charles Edel discuss shifting views among allies and the Global South, the fraying post-1945 order, and the challenge of building a more durable allied strategy.

Event — July 14, 2026

Audio Briefs

Elevating Pacific Perspectives in U.S. Regional Security Cooperation

An audio version of "⁠Elevating Pacific Perspectives in U.S. Regional Security Cooperation⁠," a new commentary by CSIS’s  John Augé, Kathryn Paik, and Charles Edel. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs. 

Podcast Episode by John Augé, Kathryn Paik, and Charles Edel — May 26, 2026

Audio Briefs
Audio Briefs

A Union Restored: New Zealand and the Cook Islands Repair Ties

An audio version of “⁠A Union Restored: New Zealand and the Cook Islands Repair Ties⁠,” a new Critical Questions by CSIS’s Kathryn Paik and Charles Edel. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.

Podcast Episode by Kathryn Paik and Charles Edel — April 28, 2026

Audio Briefs
Audio Briefs

State of Play: The Global Impact of the SCOTUS Decision on IEEPA Tariffs

An audio version of “⁠State of Play: The Global Impact of the SCOTUS Decision on IEEPA Tariffs⁠,” a new Commentary by CSIS’s Victor Cha, Nicholas Szechenyi, Oge Onubogu, Christopher Hernandez-Roy, Charles Edel, Scott Kennedy, Ilaria Mazzocco, Henrietta Levin, Bonny Lin, Federico Steinberg, Richard M. Rossow, Kristi Govella, Mona Yacoubian, and Gregory B. Poling. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.

Podcast Episode by CSIS Scholars — February 20, 2026

Audio Briefs

State of Play: The Global Impact of the SCOTUS Decision on IEEPA Tariffs

On February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court declared President Donald Trump’s use of IEEPA to impose global tariffs against U.S. trading partners illegal. CSIS experts assess how governments and key sectors around the world are likely to interpret and react to the decision.

Commentary by CSIS Scholars — February 20, 2026