Dr. Colin Kahl, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, Returns to CNAS as Senior Fellow

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is
pleased to announce that Dr. Colin Kahl, who recently served as the Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, has returned to CNAS as a
Senior Fellow focusing on Middle East security and defense policy. Dr. Kahl
will concurrently serve at CNAS and as an associate professor in the
Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of
Foreign Service.  

Dr. Kahl first joined CNAS in 2007 as a Senior Fellow, conducting research on
U.S. strategy and defense policy in Iraq and notably co-authoring the highly
influential 2008 CNAS report Shaping the Iraq Inheritance with Michéle Flournoy and Shawn Brimley. Dr. Kahl
departed CNAS in 2008 to serve in the administration as Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, where he developed and implemented
the Department of Defense’s strategy and policy toward Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq,
Iran, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. 

"We are thrilled that Colin has returned to
CNAS as part of our senior research team," said Nathaniel Fick, CNAS Chief
Executive Officer. "Colin’s experience serving as the Department of
Defense’s lead on U.S. strategy and policy toward the Middle East over the last
two years will greatly inform our work in 2012, including a study of the
implications of Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions, which will be the focus of
Colin’s first report."

During his tenure as Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, he played a lead
role in: designing and overseeing the responsible drawdown and transition
strategy in Iraq; shaping the Pentagon’s efforts to counter Iran’s nuclear
weapons ambitions and destabilizing activities; promoting unprecedented defense
cooperation with Israel; building a Regional Security Architecture in the Gulf;
and crafting the Department’s response to the Arab Awakening.

Read Dr.
Kahl's full biography here.

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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. CNAS leads efforts to help inform and prepare the national security
leaders of today and tomorrow.