Presenter

Kenneth Pollack

Senior Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution

Dr. Kenneth Pollack is a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Prior to that, he served as the director of research, helping to build and establish the center, and then as the director of the Center itself. With an extensive background in national security, intelligence, and foreign policy, Ken is an expert on Middle Eastern political-military affairs, with a particular emphasis on Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.He is the author of eight books on the Middle East. His latest, Unthinkable: Iran, the Bomb and American Strategy, explains the history and strategic threat of Iran’s nuclear program and examines various options to address it. It was named one of the “Best Books of the Year” by the Economist and Foreign Affairs and was picked by the New York Times as an “Editor’s Choice” and one of its “Notable Books of the Year.” His book, A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East, published three years before the Arab Spring, warned of a coming wave of “revolutions, civil wars, insurgencies and terrorism” in the Middle East if the leaders of the region did not begin determined programs of reform to meet the needs of their unhappy populations. It was chosen as one of the Washington Post’s “Best Books of the Year” for 2008 and a New York Times’ “Editor’s Choice.” His six other books include: Which Path to Persia? Options for a New U.S. Strategy toward Iran, Unfinished Business: An American Strategy for Iraq Moving Forward; Things Fall Apart: Containing the Spillover of a Civil War in Iraq; The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America; Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948–1991; and The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq, which was a New York Times and Washington Post best-seller. He also authored A Switch in Time: A New Strategy for America in Iraq, a Brookings monograph that was among the first to argue for what became the “Surge” strategy in Iraq. Additionally, Pollack has written myriad articles that have been published in major international publications.He began his career as an Iran-Iraq military analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he predicted the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and was the principal author of the CIA’s classified post-mortem on Iraqi strategy and military operations during the Persian Gulf War. Pollack received the CIA’s Certificate of Distinction for Outstanding Performance of Duty for work before and during the Persian Gulf War. He also twice received the CIA’s Exceptional Performance Award.Dr. Pollack twice served on the staff of the National Security Council. He was director for Near East and South Asian affairs and served as director for Persian Gulf affairs. In this latter capacity, he was the principal official for U.S. policy toward Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and the Gulf Cooperation Council States at the White House. Pollack was also a senior research professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, where he worked on issues related to Middle Eastern political and military affairs for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Lastly, he was the director for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

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