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

Foreign Policy
In Meeting With Erdogan, Biden Holds the Power
On the margins of the June 14 NATO summit in Brussels, U.S. President Joe Biden is set to hold his first meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The encounter comes at a sensitive time for Erdogan, whose country is teetering on the edge of a potentially catastrophic economic and political crisis. And Biden should use that to the United States’ advantage as he seeks to support democracy in Turkey.
Eric Edelman Foreign Policy
Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus
How the West must handle Lukashenko's threat
Designating the Belarusian dictator a terrorist would be one step. But leaders must also pressure Vladimir Putin.
Eric Edelman and David J. Kramer The Dispatch
Antony Blinken headshot
What we have learned about Biden’s foreign policy
One can say that the first 100 days or so of the Biden administration’s foreign policy have gone about as expected. 
Eric Edelman The Dispatch
The New Yorker
Forced to Choose Between Trump's "Big Lie" and Liz Cheney, the House G.O.P. Chooses the Lie
In the New Yorker, Eric Edelman discusses the rupture between Liz Cheney and the House Republican Conference. Edelman served as national security adviser to Cheney's father, former Vice-President Dick Cheney.
Eric Edelman The New Yorker
Soldier pointing weapon viewed through night goggles
Afghanistan’s terrorist future
There’s much more that can be said about the decision and the process (or lack thereof) behind it. But given how unlikely the decision is to be reversed, it is worth considering what will happen to Afghanistan after the last American troops leave.
Eric Edelman and Robert Joseph The Bulwark
missile launch against night sky
America’s nuclear missiles need major modernization
America’s nuclear forces have not kept pace with developments in Russian and China, respectively the world’s largest and third-largest nuclear powers.
Eric Edelman and Franklin C. Miller The Bulwark