Featured commentary & analysis


Counterterrorism Study Group

The Counterterrorism Study Group is a forum for former counterterrorism officials to review the latest threats, to understand emerging trends and future predictions, and to explore creative new proposals for improving the effectiveness of current policies and operations.


Podcast series

Listen to the latest episode of the China-MENA podcast, featuring conversations with academics, government leaders, and the policy community on China’s role in the Middle East.


Gulf Security Task Force

The Gulf Security Task Force is revisiting the question of how to best protect US interests in this sensitive, always relevant region. Our goal is to provide US decision-makers with an updated, fact-based strategy for protecting US interests in the air and maritime domain from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, and ensuring Gulf partners’ ability to assume this responsibility, with the assistance and leadership of the United States.

Content

In the News

Feb 6, 2017

Ullman in the Wall Street Journal: Shock, Awe Come After Defining the Outcome

By Harlan Ullman

Read full article here.

Iraq
The Gulf

MENASource

Feb 3, 2017

Rethinking Transitional Justice in Yemen

By Tarek Radwan

Six years ago today, the Yemeni people erupted in a Day of Rage against a corrupt regime to demand equal rights, but the transitional process faltered leading to the now nearly two-year-old conflict between Houthi rebels allied with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and the government-in-exile led by President Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi backed by Saudi […]

Yemen

In the News

Feb 2, 2017

Farkas Joins MSNBC to Discuss President Trump’s Contacts with Russia and Saudi Arabia, and the National Security Council

By Evelyn Farkas

Watch full interview here.

National Security
Russia

In the News

Feb 2, 2017

Ward Quoted by the Huffington Post on US Yemen Raid

By Alexander Ward

Read full article here.

National Security
Security & Defense

In the News

Feb 2, 2017

Ferziger in Bloomberg Businessweek: How Do Israel’s Tech Firms Do Business in Saudi Arabia? Very Quietly

Israel
Politics & Diplomacy

In the News

Feb 1, 2017

Khoury Joins Al Jazeera to Discuss the Raid on al-Qaeda in Yemen

By Nabeel Khoury

Watch the full interview here.

Yemen

Global Energy Forum

Feb 1, 2017

UAE’s Energy Strategy 2050 Embraces Renewables

The changing dynamics of the energy landscape have undeniable geopolitical implications, said the United Arab Emirates’ Energy Minister, Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, noting that his nation has made great strides toward establishing regional stability through the development of clean energy. “In any geopolitical situation… you’ll find energy is either an enabler or an issue […]

The Gulf

Defense Industrialist

Jan 23, 2017

The USAF needs more than 300 light attack aircraft—now.

By Dave Foster

Lowering flight-hour costs later in the long war isn’t the main issue.

Defense Industry
Iraq

Defense Industrialist

Jan 11, 2017

“Unleash us from the tether of fuel”

By Greg Douquet

Mattis put his faith in the 3rd Marine Air Wing’s ability to defeat Saddam’s formations surrounding Baghdad, and accepted the risk that his force might not achieve its objectives before running out of fuel. In later testimony, Mattis reflected back on the compromising situation of the “March Up,” as well as on the cost of increased fuel demand during the counter-insurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the future, he stated, the military must be “unleashed from the tether of fuel.” Mattis had seen the future imperative to change our sources of energy for military operations.

Afghanistan
Conflict

Report

Jan 6, 2017

The end of Saudi Arabia’s addiction to oil: Downstream industrial development

By Jean-Francois Seznec

Saudi Arabia’s leadership recently introduced an ambitious plan called Vision 2030 to move the country away from oil and toward a more diversified, modern economy. What are the existing downstream industries in the public and private sectors, and what has made them so successful thus far?

Energy & Environment
Energy Transitions

Experts