Dr. Kimberly Kagan

Kimberly Kagan is the founder and president of the Institute for the Study of War. She is a military historian who has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Yale University, Georgetown University, and American University. She is the author of The Eye of Command (University of Michigan Press, 2006) and The Surge: a Military History (Encounter Books, 2009), and editor of The Imperial Moment (Harvard University Press, 2010).  Dr. Kagan has published numerous essays in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Weekly Standard, and Foreign Policy.  She co-produced The Surge: The Whole Story, an hour-long oral history and documentary film on the campaign in Iraq from 2007 to 2008.

Dr. Kagan served in Kabul for fifteen months in 2010 and 2011 as a “directed telescope” to General David H. Petraeus and subsequently General John Allen, working on special projects for these commanders of the International Security Assistance Force.  Admiral Mike Mullen, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recognized Dr. Kagan for her deployment as a volunteer during this time with the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor the Chairman can present to civilians who do not work for the Department of Defense.

Dr. Kagan previously served as a member of General Stanley McChrystal’s strategic assessment team, comprised of civilian experts, during his campaign review in June and July 2009.   Dr. Kagan also serves on the Academic Advisory Board at the Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence at CENTCOM.  She conducted many regular battlefield circulations of Iraq between May 2007 and April 2010 while General Petraeus and General Raymond T. Odierno served as the MNF-I Commanding General. She participated formally on the Joint Campaign Plan Assessment Team for Multi-National Force-Iraq - U.S. Mission- Iraq in October 2008 and October 2009, and as part of the Civilian Advisory Team for the CENTCOM strategic review in January 2009.

Dr. Kagan held an Olin Postdoctoral Fellowship in Military History at Yale International Security Studies in 2004 to2005 and was a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies in 2002 to 2003. She received her B.A. in Classical Civilization and her Ph.D. in History from Yale University.