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

Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan
The U.S. Needs to Play Hardball With Turkey
A tough stance toward Turkey is the only way to defend U.S. regional interests.
Eric Edelman Foreign Policy
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The Price of Strategic Slovenliness
Eric welcomes Eliot back from his long travels who reports back on his trip with a bipartisan delegation of national security experts to Israel and recounts the ongoing trauma that both the Israeli public and national security elite are experiencing over the attacks on October 7 and the ongoing saga of the hostages.
Eric Edelman The Bulwark
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Live from the Miller Center
Eric visits the Miller Center and joins John Owen IV, the Amb. Henry J. and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Professor of Politics, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and the Miller Center for Public Affairs and Marc Selverstone, the Miller Center’s director of presidential studies, co-chair of the Center’s Presidential Recordings Program, and professor of presidential studies. They discus John’s new book, 'The Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order,' and Marc’s book, 'The Kennedy Withdrawal: Camelot and the American Commitment to Vietnam.'
Eric Edelman, John Owen, Marc Selverstone The Bulwark
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'The Ecology of Nations'
Constitutional self-government and authoritarianism are in a worldwide contest—and it is not going well for democracy. Miller Center Faculty Senior Fellow and Taylor Professor of Politics John M. Owen IV engages with experts to discuss open liberal internationalism and what comes next for "The Ecology of Nations," the title of his latest book.
Aynne Kokas, John Owen, Kristen Eichensehr, Eric Edelman Miller Center Presents
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Is America about to abandon Ukraine?
Eric welcomes former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor to Shield of the Republic. They discuss the state of play on the supplemental aid legislation, the causes for the Ukrainian Counter Offensive’s “failure” this summer, the search for a new strategy, General Zaluzhny’s ideas about the changing character of warfare, the stresses and strains of domestic Ukrainian politics, the prospects for negotiations, the consequences of failure to get the assistance money and Plan B if the effort on the Hill fails.
Eric Edelman The Bulwark
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Understanding Hamas with Jonathan Schanzer
Eric welcomes Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies to discuss the war in Gaza. Jonathan Schanzer was a terrorism finance analyst at the Treasury Department and holds a BA from Emory University, a Masters degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a Doctorate from Kings College London and studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo.
Eric Edelman The Bulwark