Acclaimed Author David Finkel Joins CNAS as Writer in Residence

Washington, D.C., November 10, 2010 - The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is pleased to announce that David Finkel, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for The Washington Post, has affiliated with CNAS as the next Senior Writer in Residence. Finkel is the author of the bestselling book The Good Soldiers, a ground-level account of an Army infantry battalion’s efforts to secure part of Baghdad during the 2007 surge in Iraq.

CNAS will host Finkel as he writes a second book that chronicles the return of the battalion’s soldiers after the end of their tour, exploring their struggles to reintegrate – what Finkel calls their “trip back to normalcy.” The book will be published by Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

"The Good Soldiers is one of the best books written about the war in Iraq, or any war. David’s next book will highlight the human and societal costs of going to war, and I’m thrilled that he has chosen to write it at CNAS," said Nathaniel Fick, CNAS Chief Executive Officer, veteran of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and author of The New York Times bestseller One Bullet Away.
 
David Finkel’s writing complements CNAS’s ongoing work on the future of the U.S. military, particularly current projects on Military Wellness and Veterans Health, led by CNAS CEO Nathaniel Fick and CNAS Non-Resident Senior Fellow Nancy Berglass.  The Military Wellness and Veterans Health Initiatives focus on our nation’s capacity both to care for our troops and veterans and to address the impact of deployment on their families and communities.  Stay tuned for the forthcoming CNAS policy brief "America's Duty: The Imperative of a New Approach to Warrior and Veteran Care" by Nancy Berglass, who also serves as director of the Iraq Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund, a grants program that has distributed nearly $250 million dollars to scores of nonprofit organizations serving the unmet needs of men, women and families impacted by deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The CNAS Writers in Residence program provides some of America’s top national security and defense journalists the opportunity to complete longer book projects while benefiting from the full spectrum of the Center’s resources and expertise.  Previous Writers in Residence include Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, whose forthcoming book Counterstrike will be on shelves in 2011; David Cloud and Greg Jaffe, whose book The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army was released October 2009; Tom Ricks, who penned The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008; and David Sanger, who wrote The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power.
 
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The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is an independent and nonpartisan research institution that develops strong, pragmatic and principled national security and defense policies that promote and protect American interests and values. CNAS leads efforts to help inform and prepare the national security leaders of today and tomorrow.