
Eliot A. Cohen is the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Robert E. Osgood Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he has taught since 1990. He received his BA and PhD degrees from Harvard and taught there and at the U.S. Naval War College before going to SAIS, where he has also served as the school’s ninth dean. His books include, most recently, The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force (Basic Books, 2017), as well as Conquered into Liberty: Two Centuries of Battle Along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War (FreePress, 2011) and Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime (Anchor, 2002), among others. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve, was a director in the Defense Department’s policy planning staff, led the U.S. Air Force’s multivolume study of the first Gulf War, and has served in various official advisory positions. From 2007 to 2009 he was counselor of the Department of State, serving as Secretary Condoleezza Rice’s senior adviser, focusing chiefly on issues of war and peace, including Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and his commentary has also appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and on major television networks.
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In the News
Think Strategy, Not Tactics
Eliot A. Cohen in The Atlantic — November 1, 2023
War in the Middle East Challenges Biden’s Defense Strategy
Eliot A. Cohen in Wall Street Journal — October 17, 2023
Against Barbarism
Eliot A. Cohen in The Atlantic — October 12, 2023
This Debacle Will Transform Israel
Eliot A. Cohen in The Atlantic — October 9, 2023
Telling the Truth About Taiwan
Eliot A. Cohen in The Atlantic — October 3, 2023
A pivotal moment in Putin’s war
Eliot A. Cohen in The Telegraph — September 15, 2023
Beware the False Prophets of War
Eliot A. Cohen in The Atlantic — September 11, 2023
Ukraine is willing to risk cluster munitions. And rightly so.
Eliot A. Cohen in The Washington Post — August 16, 2023
All Eliot A. Cohen Content
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War in Gaza and The Hollow Crown
Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz and Eliot A. Cohen — November 2, 2023

Book Launch: The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall
Event — October 24, 2023
Eliot A. Cohen in The Atlantic: This Debacle Will Transform Israel
Commentary by Eliot A. Cohen — October 9, 2023
Putin and the Prigozhin Putsch
Podcast Episode by Eliot A. Cohen and H. Andrew Schwartz — June 30, 2023

Lessons in U.S. Intelligence and Special Operations
Event — June 16, 2023
Book Event: White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan
Event — March 30, 2023
One Year Later: Assessing Russia’s War In Ukraine
Event — February 17, 2023
Experts React: Factors Shaping the Russia-Ukraine Conflict in 2023
Commentary by Emily Harding Benjamin Jensen Heather Williams and Eliot A. Cohen — February 13, 2023
Eliot Cohen on Russia-Ukraine and Iran-Israel
Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz and Eliot A. Cohen — February 6, 2023

Visions of Kiev
Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz and Eliot A. Cohen — September 30, 2022
