Center for a New American Security

Roger D. Carstens is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He is a retired Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel whose last posting was to serve as an advisor to the Iraqi National Counter Terror Force in Baghdad, Iraq. Prior to his tour in Iraq, he served as a Legislative Liaison for the Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C. As an Army Ranger, he participated in a combat parachute assault during the invasion of Panama and later commanded three Army Special Forces Companies. He co-wrote the report "Ethical Dilemmas for Special Forces," published by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University; and contributed to "Preventing the Next Wave of Conflict: Understanding Non-Traditional Threats to Global Stability," a report published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ Conflict Prevention Project. A writer on national security affairs, he has been published in USA Today, Washington Times, U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings, National Review Online, Christian Science Monitor and has been a featured guest on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, Fox News Live and National Public Radio’s The Connection. He recently served as the Washington, D.C., director for the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and holds a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.