Experts

Eric Edelman

Practitioner Senior Fellow

Fast Facts

  • Career minister in the U.S. Foreign Service
  • Undersecretary of defense for policy in the George W. Bush Administration
  • Ambassador to Finland and Turkey
  • Recipient of Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service
  • Expertise on defense policy, nuclear policy and proliferation, diplomacy

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • American Defense and Security
  • War and Terrorism

Eric Edelman, practitioner senior fellow, retired as a career minister from the U.S. Foreign Service in 2009, after having served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House. As the undersecretary of defense for policy (2005-2009), he oversaw strategy development as the Defense Department’s senior policy official with global responsibility for bilateral defense relations, war plans, special operations forces, homeland defense, missile defense, nuclear weapons and arms control policies, counter-proliferation, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, arms sales, and defense trade controls. Edelman served as U.S. ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey in the Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations and was principal deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for national security affairs. Edelman has been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, and several Department of State Superior Honor Awards. In January of 2011 he was awarded the Legion d’Honneur by the French government. In 2016, he served as the James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center.

Eric Edelman News Feed

Shield of the Republic
Wearing Russian Sanctions like a Badge of Honor
Eric and Eliot return with special guest David Kramer, the Managing Director of Global Policy at the George W. Bush Institute and former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and who incidentally has just been sanctioned by the Russian government (wear it as a badge of honor David!). They discuss the status of the war in Ukraine, the nature of the Russian regime, the prospects for change in Russia, the economic state of the war, and much more.
Eric Edelman Shield of the Republic Podcast
Kristol
Eric Edelman on Ukraine, NATO, and Emerging Strategic Challenges
Senior Fellow Eric Edelman is interviewed.
Eric Edelman Conversations with Bill Kristol
The Dispatch
France’s Fine Line for Achieving Peace in Ukraine
Macron has tried to play mediator before—in Lebanon, in Iraq, and in Libya—with limited success. Eric Edelman, former U.S. ambassador to Finland and Turkey and former under secretary of defense for policy at the Department of Defense, pointed out that France has a long history of acting as an independent actor between world powers, dating back to President Charles de Gaulle. “I think there is some virtue in keeping lines open with Putin, but I think Macron has overdone it,” Edelman told The Dispatch. “The constant calls from him, and from [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz, are interpreted by Putin, in my view, as weakness, indicating that the West can be brought around to sue for peace.”
Eric Edelman The Dispatch
The Bulwark
Biden Is Trying to Deter Putin from Using Nukes. His Staff Isn’t Helping.
Over more than a half century of national security debates, President Biden made unmistakably clear his desire to reduce both the possibility of a nuclear weapons being used and the proliferation of those weapons. Sadly—for him, for our national interest, and for the world—his national security team seems intent on undercutting him at every turn.
Eric Edelman The Bulwark
screenshot of Erdoğan at podium with Turkish flags in the background
What Erdoğan has wrought?
Eric Edelman, Practitioner Senior Fellow at University of Virginia's Miller Center, writes that "in the wake of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, moving swiftly to incorporate Finland and Sweden into NATO is imperative for the geopolitical and military benefits it brings to European security."
Eric Edelman the Dispatch
NYT
For NATO, Turkey Is a Disruptive Ally
Some American analysts are skeptical. Eric S. Edelman, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Finland, warned that Mr. Erdogan could be seeking to curry favor with Mr. Putin — or at least ease the anger in Moscow over the sale of lethal drones to Ukraine’s military by a private Turkish company. “He has this very complicated relationship with Putin that he has to maintain,” Mr. Edelman said. “This is a good way of throwing a little bone to Putin — ‘I’m still useful to you.’”
Eric Edelman The New York Times