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

Article

Mar 26, 2015

Opinion: A Fourth Arab Country Melts Down

By Barbara Slavin

Reports on Wednesday that the president of Yemen has fled his country underline the latest crisis to strike the state system in the Middle East. Three other Arab nations – Libya, Syria and Iraq – are already fractured among religious, ethnic and tribal groups, with fighting exacerbated by outsiders bankrolling and arming proxies.

Iraq Libya

New Atlanticist

Mar 25, 2015

Will Chaos in Yemen Doom US War on al-Qaeda?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council analyst sees opportunity for cooperation on drone strikes Yemen’s descent into chaos has jeopardized US counterterrorism operations there, but the Pentagon could still order scaled-down drone strikes against an al-Qaeda affiliate by working with like-minded elements in the Yemeni military, says an Atlantic Council analyst. US drone strikes on al Qaeda in the […]

Yemen

In the News

Mar 25, 2015

Khoury on the Developing Situation in Yemen

By Nabeel Khoury

Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Nabeel Khoury joins NPR’s All Things Considered to discuss Yemen’s president fleeing the country and the withdrawal of US personnel from the country: Listen to the full interview here.

Yemen

Regional Security Initiative

Mar 23, 2015

Artful balance: The future of US defense strategy and force posture in the Gulf

By Bilal Y. Saab and Barry Pavel

A strategic review of US defense strategy and force posture in the Gulf is long overdue. In Artful Balance: Future US Defense Strategy and Force Posture in the Gulf, Bilal Y. Saab, Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, and Barry Pavel, Vice President and […]

Maritime Security Middle East

In the News

Mar 20, 2015

Khoury on the Violence in Yemen

By Nabeel Khoury

Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Nabeel Khoury joins PBS NewsHour to discuss rising violence, ethnic tensions, and power struggles in Yemen:

Yemen

MENASource

Mar 13, 2015

US Policy in Yemen: Creating Leverage

By Nabeel Khoury

In case there were still any doubts about Iran’s growing influence in Yemen, Tehran put that issue to rest with a hostage rescue operation last week, a pledge to provide the Houthis with a year’s worth of oil and electricity, and newly established daily commercial flights between Tehran and Sana’a.

Yemen
Gen. Martin Dempsey and Gen. Pierre de Villiers aboard the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, March 8, 2015

NATOSource

Mar 9, 2015

For the First Time, France Puts Aircraft Carrier Charles de Gaulle Under US Command

By Missy Ryan, Washington Post

When Gen. Martin Dempsey’s plane touched down Sunday on the deck of this ship, he became the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent history — perhaps ever — to set foot on a French aircraft carrier, a sign of the two nations’ increasing operational unity in the campaign against the Islamic […]

France Iraq

In the News

Mar 6, 2015

Saab on the Military Capacity of UAE

By Bilal Saab

Bloomberg quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow for Middle East Security Bilal Y. Saab on the military capacity of the United Arab Emirates and what it means for the fight against ISIS:

The Gulf

Defense Industrialist

Feb 26, 2015

The Ukrainian-Emirati Connection

By James Hasik

Sharply different histories of two armaments industries have led to a confluence of political and commercial opportunity.   No doubt, as Derek Chollet wrote Tuesday on Defense One, “Ukraine’s Military Needs More Than Just Arms”. Training and organizational reform will be essential for recovering its fighting efficiency. But as we should remind Washington and Paris and Berlin, […]

Defense Industry Security & Defense

In the News

Feb 25, 2015

Khan on the Deteriorating Economic Situation in Yemen

By Mohsin Khan

Bloomberg quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Mohsin Khan on how the deteriorating economic situation in Yemen could lead to an even worse political crisis:

Yemen

Experts