Kimberly Kagan
Encyclopedia
Kimberly Ellen Kagan is a Jewish-American military historian. She heads the Institute for the Study of War
and has taught at West Point, Yale
, Georgetown University
, and American University
. Kagan has published in The Wall Street Journal
, The New York Times
, The Weekly Standard
and elsewhere. She supported the surge in Iraq and has since advocated for an expanded and restructured American military campaign in Afghanistan. In 2009 she served on Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's strategic assessment team.
She received her B.A. in Classical Civilization and her Ph.D. in History from Yale University
. At Yale, Kagan met her husband Frederick Kagan
, who is an American resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
(AEI), son of Donald Kagan
, a well known neoconservative historian and brother of Robert Kagan
, another well known neoconservative writer and publicist. Robert Kagan's wife is Victoria Nuland
, spokesperson for the United States Department of State
.
Kagan held an “Olin Postdoctoral Fellowship in Military History” at Yale in International Security Studies from 2004-2005. She is an affiliate of Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, where she was a National Security Fellow from 2002-2003.
(Encounter Books, 2009), and editor of The Imperial Moment (Harvard University Press, 2010). Dr. Kagan has published numerous essays including “Don’t Short-Circuit the Surge” in The Wall Street Journal
, “How to Surge the Taliban” co-authored with Max Boot
and Frederick W. Kagan in The New York Times
, and “Why the Taliban are Winning--For Now” on the Foreign Policy Magazine website.
for CENTCOM United States Central Command
and ISAF International Security Assistance Force
. She participated formally on the Joint Campaign Plan Assessment Team for Multi-National Force-Iraq - U.S. Mission- Iraq in October 2008, and as part of the Civilian Advisory Team for the CENTCOM strategic review in January 2009. Dr. Kagan served in Kabul as a member of General Stanley McChrystal’s strategic assessment team, composed of civilian experts, during his strategic review in June and July 2009. She returned to Afghanistan in the summer of 2010 to assist General David Petraeus
with key transition tasks following his assumption of command in Afghanistan. Dr. Kagan also serves on the Academic Advisory Board at the Afghanistan- Pakistan
Center of Excellence at CENTCOM.
Dr. Kagan is the founder and President of the Institute for the Study of War. ISW describes itself as a “non-partisan non-profit think thank which seeks to provide research and analysis specifically regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. ISW produces comprehensive reports on the realities of war; focusing on military operations, enemy threats, and political trends in diverse conflict zones”.
As an influential member of the foreign policy brain trust in Washington, D.C., Dr. Kagan has been involved numerous public events. On May 25, 2010 Dr Kagan participated in a briefing on Capitol Hill focusing on Iraq’s political crisis that included remarks from Iraq’s Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie
and Dr. Kenneth Pollack
, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
. Dr Kagan also participated in a Brookings Institution event entitled “Prospects for Afghanistan's Future: Assessing the Outcome of the Afghan Presidential Election” alongside Dr. Michael O’Hanlon. Dr. Kagan also helped produce the documentary The Surge: the Untold Story with ISW Chairman, U.S Army General Jack Keane
(ret.) and LTG James Dubik (ret.) describing the battle of Iraq and how the United States won the war.
Institute for the Study of War
The Institute for the Study of War is a think tank founded in 2007 by Kimberly Kagan. ISW describes itself as a non-partisan non-profit think tank which seeks to provide research and analysis specifically regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs...
and has taught at West Point, Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, and American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
. Kagan has published in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
and elsewhere. She supported the surge in Iraq and has since advocated for an expanded and restructured American military campaign in Afghanistan. In 2009 she served on Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's strategic assessment team.
Early life
Kagan is the daughter of an accountant and school teacher from New York CityShe received her B.A. in Classical Civilization and her Ph.D. in History from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. At Yale, Kagan met her husband Frederick Kagan
Frederick Kagan
Frederick W. Kagan is an American resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute , and a former professor of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from Hamden High School before earning a B.A. in Soviet and East European studies and a Ph.D. in Russian and...
, who is an American resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
(AEI), son of Donald Kagan
Donald Kagan
Donald Kagan is an American historian at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece, notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War. 1987-1988 Acting Director of Athletics, Yale University. He was Dean of Yale College from 1989–1992. He formerly taught in the Department of...
, a well known neoconservative historian and brother of Robert Kagan
Robert Kagan
Robert Kagan is an American historian and foreign policy commentator.-Early life and education:Kagan graduated from Yale University in 1980 where he was tapped by Skull and Bones, studied history, and founded the Yale Political Monthly. He later earned an MPP from the John F...
, another well known neoconservative writer and publicist. Robert Kagan's wife is Victoria Nuland
Victoria Nuland
Victoria Nuland is the spokesperson for the United States Department of State.-Career:In Summer 2011, Nuland became the State Department Spokesperson...
, spokesperson for the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
.
Kagan held an “Olin Postdoctoral Fellowship in Military History” at Yale in International Security Studies from 2004-2005. She is an affiliate of Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, where she was a National Security Fellow from 2002-2003.
Works
Dr. Kagan is the author of The Eye of Command (University of Michigan Press, 2006), The Surge: A Military HistoryThe Surge: A Military History
The Surge: A Military History is a military history by Kimberly Kagan about the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. The book describes events in Iraq starting from late 2006, before the surge, to early 2008, focusing on the details of military operations on a week by week basis...
(Encounter Books, 2009), and editor of The Imperial Moment (Harvard University Press, 2010). Dr. Kagan has published numerous essays including “Don’t Short-Circuit the Surge” in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, “How to Surge the Taliban” co-authored with Max Boot
Max Boot
Max Boot is an American author, consultant, editorialist, lecturer, and military historian. He has been a prominent advocate for American power. He once described his ideas as "American might to promote American ideals." He self-identifies as a conservative, once joking that "I grew up in the...
and Frederick W. Kagan in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, and “Why the Taliban are Winning--For Now” on the Foreign Policy Magazine website.
Current position
Dr. Kagan has conducted eight battlefield circulations of Iraq since May 2007 for the MNF-I Commanding General, three of which were in AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
for CENTCOM United States Central Command
United States Central Command
The United States Central Command is a theater-level Unified Combatant Command unit of the U.S. armed forces, established in 1983 under the operational control of the U.S. Secretary of Defense...
and ISAF International Security Assistance Force
International Security Assistance Force
The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...
. She participated formally on the Joint Campaign Plan Assessment Team for Multi-National Force-Iraq - U.S. Mission- Iraq in October 2008, and as part of the Civilian Advisory Team for the CENTCOM strategic review in January 2009. Dr. Kagan served in Kabul as a member of General Stanley McChrystal’s strategic assessment team, composed of civilian experts, during his strategic review in June and July 2009. She returned to Afghanistan in the summer of 2010 to assist General David Petraeus
David Petraeus
David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander...
with key transition tasks following his assumption of command in Afghanistan. Dr. Kagan also serves on the Academic Advisory Board at the Afghanistan- Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
Center of Excellence at CENTCOM.
Dr. Kagan is the founder and President of the Institute for the Study of War. ISW describes itself as a “non-partisan non-profit think thank which seeks to provide research and analysis specifically regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. ISW produces comprehensive reports on the realities of war; focusing on military operations, enemy threats, and political trends in diverse conflict zones”.
As an influential member of the foreign policy brain trust in Washington, D.C., Dr. Kagan has been involved numerous public events. On May 25, 2010 Dr Kagan participated in a briefing on Capitol Hill focusing on Iraq’s political crisis that included remarks from Iraq’s Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie
Samir Sumaidaie
Samir Shakir Mahmoud Sumayda'ie is an Iraqi politician and the Iraqi ambassador to the United States. He was born in Baghdad in 1944 and left Iraq in 1960 to study in the United Kingdom where he obtained a degree in electrical engineering from Durham University in 1965 and a postgraduate diploma...
and Dr. Kenneth Pollack
Kenneth Pollack
Kenneth Michael Pollack, PhD , is a noted former CIA intelligence analyst and expert on Middle East politics and military affairs. He has served on the National Security Council staff and has written several articles and books on international relations.Pollack obtained a BA from Yale University,...
, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
. Dr Kagan also participated in a Brookings Institution event entitled “Prospects for Afghanistan's Future: Assessing the Outcome of the Afghan Presidential Election” alongside Dr. Michael O’Hanlon. Dr. Kagan also helped produce the documentary The Surge: the Untold Story with ISW Chairman, U.S Army General Jack Keane
Jack Keane
John Keane is a retired four-star general and former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and a defense analyst currently serving as Chairman of the Board for .-Biography:...
(ret.) and LTG James Dubik (ret.) describing the battle of Iraq and how the United States won the war.