Rachel Brandenburg Joins CNAS as Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Middle East Security Program

Washington, June 30, 2021—The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is pleased to announce that Rachel Brandenburg, Associate Vice President at The Cohen Group (TCG), has joined CNAS as an Adjunct Senior Fellow in the Middle East Security Program, where her research will primarily focus on defense and the Middle East.

“We are thrilled to welcome Rachel to the Center,” said Ilan Goldenberg, Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Security Program. “Rachel’s years of experience in national security in and out of government make her a valuable expert who can bring practical and insightful knowledge to the team.”

Rachel joined TCG after over a decade of national security and foreign policy work at the State Department, the Department of Defense, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the think tank community.

Prior to joining TCG, Rachel served as Senior Policy Advisor to Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and was responsible for legislative and policy work related to the House Armed Services Committee, national security and defense, foreign policy, election security, and other topics. Before serving on Capitol Hill, Rachel worked at the Atlantic Council as the Director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Middle East Security Initiative. From 2014 to 2018, she served in the Department of Defense’s Office of the Secretary of Defense for Middle East policy, where she initially focused on Iraq and the counter-ISIS campaign as director of the Iraq team, and then on bilateral defense relationships with Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan as director of the Levant team. Rachel had previously worked at the U.S. Institute of Peace as a Senior Program Officer in the Middle East and Africa Center, and at the State Department, in the Middle East Partnership Initiative office and the Office of Middle East Transitions.

Rachel was the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship in Israel and a Critical Language Scholarship in Jordan. She holds a master’s degree from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University.

For more information or to request an interview with Ms. Brandenburg, contact Shai Korman at comms@cnas.org or call 202-695-8166.