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

Turkey's President Erdoğan in front of nation's flag
Q & A: Edelman on Erdoğan
I think Turkey, unfortunately, is become a leading example of what some political scientists call electoral authoritarianism. There are other examples of this, like Russia and Egypt and a number of other countries for that matter, where the government allow elections, albeit with lots of restrictions, but they govern in a very authoritarian way.
Washington Post
Turkey’s president is holding Americans hostage. Why aren’t we doing anything about it?
Brunson is not a prisoner but a hostage, whom Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is cynically using to extort concessions from the United States, a fellow member of NATO. It is high time for President Trump to press for Brunson’s immediate and unconditional release.
Eric Edelman The Washington Post
Weekly Standard
Erdogan's Rising Islamist Militarism
Nationalism is running high in Turkey. Ankara is at war with Kurdish insurgents in the country’s southeast, and across the border in Syria since January. Moreover, Turkey has been under a state of emergency since mid-2016, when a rogue group within the military attempted a coup against Erdogan’s government, killing some 200 civilians. Amid the growing number of enemies at home and abroad, Erdogan has done his best to promote militarism among the populace, including by openly encouraging the formation of civilian militias claiming to defend his government—and the Turkish nation.
Eric Edelman The Weekly Standard
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