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

POLITICO
Turkey Is Out of Control. Time for the U.S. to Say So.
Following Turkey’s incursion into Syria, the once unthinkable prospect of a direct clash between Turkish and American soldiers has become alarmingly real. Turkey’s current fight, against U.S.-backed Kurdish troops in the northwestern Syria territory of Afrin, is destabilizing enough. But the real risk will come if Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan follows through on his repeated promises to press further east toward the Kurdish-controlled and U.S.-patrolled city of Manbij. The only way to prevent a conflict is for U.S. policymakers to adopt a clear and tough-minded approach to Turkey now, before things get worse.
Eric Edelman POLITICO Magazine
Bill Kristol Conversations
Bill Kristol: Conversation with Eric Edelman
Miller Center Senior Fellow Eric Edelman is interviewed by Bill Kristol on a variety of topics.
Eric Edelman Bill Kristol Conversations
Weekly Standard
Cheney Was Right
One of the few national figures who consistently raised alarms about U.S policy towards North Korea was former vice president Dick Cheney, and he has proven prescient. The United States now faces the real prospect of a war that Secretary of Defense James Mattis says would be “catastrophic.” This story should be studied carefully before it repeats itself—say, in Iran.
Eric Edelman The Weekly Standard
Donald Trump
President Trump's United Nations speech
Last week President Donald Trump delivered a major foreign policy address at the United Nations, attacking North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela, while emphasizing US sovereignty. Veteran diplomat Eric Edelman, a Miller Center Senior Fellow, takes a look at Trump's speech and specifically North Korea with the Center's Tom van der Voort.
Politico
How Trump swallowed a bitter Afghanistan pill
“Obama was suspicious of what the generals were telling him. They were telling him to put in more troops than he wanted to,” said Eric Edelman, who served as undersecretary of defense for policy under George W. Bush. “Trump does recognize that just pulling out is not an option. If the Taliban takes over and then there’s a terrorist attack, that is a big political risk for him,” Edelman added.
Eric Edelman POLITICO
Washington Post
A hobbled commander in chief tries to rally the country
The speech was in keeping with Trump’s approach to everything, which is to say it was more about him than anything else.” Edelman pointed out that from the effort to recover from the Charlottesville debacle to his ” ‘I wanted to pull out’ instincts to his pathetic whining about the crappy hand he was dealt — it read less like a carefully thought-out strategy and policy and more like an internal monologue.” He added, “It was not a compelling argument to the public for continued involvement and sacrifice.”
Eric Edelman The Washington Post