Experts

Eric Edelman

Practitioner Senior Fellow

Fast Facts

  • Career minister in the U.S. Foreign Service
  • Undersecretary of defense for policy in the George W. Bush Administration
  • Ambassador to Finland and Turkey
  • Recipient of Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service
  • Expertise on defense policy, nuclear policy and proliferation, diplomacy

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • War and Terrorism

Eric Edelman, practitioner senior fellow, retired as a career minister from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2009, after having served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House. As the undersecretary of defense for policy (2005-2009), he oversaw strategy development as the Defense Department’s senior policy official with global responsibility for bilateral defense relations, war plans, special operations forces, homeland defense, missile defense, nuclear weapons and arms control policies, counter-proliferation, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, arms sales, and defense trade controls. Edelman served as U.S. ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey in the Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations and was principal deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for national security affairs. Edelman has been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, and several Department of State Superior Honor Awards. In January of 2011 he was awarded the Legion d’Honneur by the French government. In 2016, he served as the James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center.

Eric Edelman News Feed

Shield of the Republic
Woodrow Wilson and the Great War (with Philip Zelikow)
In this episode Eliot and Eric explore why Woodrow Wilson was unable to end World War I in 1916 despite the exhaustion of Britain, France, and Germany (the main combatants on the Western Front), how the lack of an adequate staffing may have contributed, the rise of a staffing culture inside the US government and the more recent loss of staffing and strategic competence, the role of reviewing past policy failures, the work of the House January 6 Committee investigation, and prospects for an Afghanistan and COVID-19 independent commissions. Our special guest is Philip Zelikow, the White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia, the former Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission and author of the recent book, The Road Less Travelled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916-1917 (New York: Public Affairs Press, 2021).
Eric Edelman Shield of the Republic Podcast
Beg to Differ
The Democrats’ Sinking Poll Numbers
Eric Edelman helps unpack China’s new missile, Democrats’ decline, and McAuliffe’s tone deafness.
Eric Edelman Beg to Differ Podcast
JINSA
Erasing the Leverage Deficit: How to Keep Tehran from the Bomb
If it is not already, Iran is on course to soon become a nuclear threshold state, with a potentially undetectable capacity to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks. It has reached this dangerous tipping point at the exact same time as the future of Biden administration efforts to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) are most uncertain. After months of stalling, Iran claims it might return to negotiations at some undeclared time, perhaps in November. Meanwhile, administration officials have suggested their patience is running out and that, should diplomacy fail, a “Plan B” might be required—without specifying either the timing or nature of their backup strategy.
Eric Edelman JINSA
The Bulwark
Remembering Gen. Ray Odierno, a Key Leader of the Iraq Surge
Raymond Odierno, former chief of staff of the United States Army and commanding general in Iraq, died of cancer on Friday, October 8. Several obituarists have commented on his striking physical presence. His height—he was 6 foot 5—and shaved head as well as his military bearing gave him a distinctive aura of authority that could be quite intimidating. I was surprised, therefore, in my first dealings with him to note how soft-spoken he was in policy deliberations.
Eric Edelman The Bulwark
Shield of the Republic
"A Strategic Failure": The War in Afghanistan with Carter Malkasian
A discussion of why the war in Afghanistan was in General Mark Milley’s words “a strategic failure,” why the Afghan government failed to inspire Afghans to fight for their own country, and the legacy of former ambassador and peace agreement negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad. Our special guest is Carter Malkasian, who was a political advisor to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Commanding General of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and is the author of "The American War in Afghanistan."
Eric Edelman Shield of the Republic Podcast
Joe Biden shaking hands with Vladimir Putin
Can the future of arms control be found in its past?
Now that the keystone of the arms control enterprise remains in place it is worth examining why so many arms control experts and advocates have been warning about “the end,” “the death” or the “deep crisis” of arms control. As one leading Russian scholar of arms control has argued, “legacy Cold War-era arms control is collapsing and an uncontrolled nuclear arms race is threatening to return.”
Eric Edelman Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments