Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution
Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Dr. Kenneth Pollack is a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Prior to that, he served as the director of research, helping to build and establish the center, and then as the director of the Saban Center itself. With an extensive background in national security, intelligence, and foreign policy, Pollack is an expert on Middle Eastern political-military affairs, with a particular emphasis on Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the other nations of the Persian Gulf region. In his presentations, he addresses foreign affairs, foreign policy, geopolitics, and the Middle East.
Best-Selling and Highly-Accomplished Author on the Middle East. Pollack is the author of seven books. His latest, A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East, assesses American interests in the Middle East and is a Washington Post and Foreign Affairs best-seller. It was chosen as one of the Washington Post’s “Best Books of the Year” for 2008 and the New York Times’ “Editor’s Choice.” In addition, Pollack was the author of the Brookings Institution’s, Which Path to Persia? Options for a New U.S. Strategy toward Iran, which examines different policies that the U.S. could pursue toward Iran. His five other books include: Unfinished Business: An American Strategy for Iraq Moving Forward; Things Fall Apart: Containing the Spillover of a Civil War in Iraq; The Persian Puzzle: The Conflict Between Iran and America; Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991; and The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq, which was a New York Times and Washington Post best-seller. He also authored A Switch in Time: A New Strategy for America in Iraq, a Saban Center monograph that laid out a complete, alternative policy toward Iraq’s reconstruction. Additionally, Pollack has written myriad articles that have been published in major international publications.
National Security Background. Pollack began his career as an Iran-Iraq military analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he predicted the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and was the principal author of the CIA’s classified post-mortem on Iraqi strategy and military operations during the Persian Gulf War. Pollack received the CIA’s Certificate of Distinction for Outstanding Performance of Duty for work before and during the Persian Gulf War. He also twice received the CIA’s Exceptional Performance Award.
Dr. Pollack twice served on the staff of the National Security Council. He was director for Near East and South Asian affairs and served as director for Persian Gulf affairs. In this latter capacity, he was the principal official for U.S. policy toward Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and the Gulf Cooperation Council States at the White House. Pollack was also a senior research professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, where he worked on issues related to Middle Eastern political and military affairs for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Lastly, he was the director for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Dr. Pollack received his BA from Yale and a PhD in political science from MIT.
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Download Speech Topics: Kenneth Pollack's Topics
The Middle East. With an extensive background in national security, intelligence, and foreign policy, Pollack is an expert on Middle Eastern political-military affairs, with a particular emphasis on Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the other nations of the Persian Gulf region. As a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, Kenneth Pollack has also extensively worked on policy toward the region. He stresses economic, social, and educational change as part of the solution to the Middle East’s issues. In his presentations, he addresses foreign affairs; foreign policy; geopolitics; the Middle East; America’s relationship with the Middle East, including how our interests in the region will affect our policy; and how instability in the Middle East affects global security.
National Security and Intelligence. With his extensive background in security and intelligence from his time at the CIA and the National Security Council, Pollack addresses security in the Middle East, how American foreign policy affects intelligence, and how instability in the region affects us at home and abroad.
Travels FromDistrict of Columbia Local Fee Range$5,001.00 to $10,000.00 West Coast Fee Range$15,001.00 to $20,000.00 East Coast Fee Range$10,001.00 to $15,000.00
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