Iran Tracker

Speaker Biographies

Thomas Donnelly, a defense and security policy analyst, is the director of the Center for Defense Studies at AEI. He is the coauthor of “Lessons for a Long War: How America Can Win on New Battlefields” (AEI Press, 2010, with Frederick W. Kagan). Among his recent books are “Ground Truth: The Future of US Land Power” (AEI Press, 2008, with Mr. Kagan), “Of Men and Materiel: The Crisis in Military Resources” (AEI Press 2007, coedited with Gary J. Schmitt), “The Military We Need” (AEI Press, 2005) and “Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic Assessment” (AEI Press, 2004). Mr. Donnelly was policy-group director and a professional staff member for the House Committee on Armed Services from 1995 to 1999, and he also served as a member of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is a former editor of Armed Forces Journal, Army Times, and Defense News.

Frederick W. Kagan is a resident scholar in defense and security policy studies and director of the Critical Threats Project at AEI. In 2009, he served in Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of General Stanley McChrystal’s strategic assessment team, and he returned to Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011 to conduct research for General David Petraeus. He is coauthor of the report “Defining Success in Afghanistan” (AEI and the Institute for the Study of War, 2011) and author of the series of reports “Choosing Victory” (AEI), which recommended and monitored the US military surge in Iraq. His most recent book is “Lessons for a Long War: How America Can Win on New Battlefields” (AEI Press, 2010, with Thomas Donnelly). Previously an associate professor of military history at West Point, he is a contributing editor at The Weekly Standard and has written for Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other periodicals. 

Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) was elected to the United States Senate in 2010 after five terms representing Illinois’s 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House. In 1989, he was commissioned as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve and currently holds the rank of commander. From December 2008 to January 2009, Kirk became the first House member to deploy to an imminent danger area since 1942 when he served as special adviser for counternarcotics in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He has also served in Iraq, Haiti and Bosnia and was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and the VADM Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year award for his service in Kosovo. He worked on the staff of his predecessor in the House, Congressman John Porter, and also spent two years at the State Department as special assistant to the assistant secretary of state. He then went into private law practice and eventually became counsel to the House International Relations Committee, a post he held until 1999. In the Senate, he serves on the Appropriations; Banking; Housing and Urban Development; and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees.

Danielle Pletka is the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI. Before joining AEI, she served for 10 years as a senior professional staff member for the Near East and South Asia on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. She writes frequently on national security matters with a focus on domestic politics in the Middle East and South Asia regions, U.S. national security, terrorism, and weapons proliferation. Ms. Pletka is the co-editor of “Dissent and Reform in the Arab World: Empowering Democrats” (AEI Press, 2008, with Michael Rubin and Jeffrey Azarva) and the co-author of “Iranian Influence in the Levant, Iraq, and Afghanistan” (AEI Press, 2008, with Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan).

Maseh Zarif is the research manager and Iran team lead for AEI’s Critical Threats Project, which researches and analyzes key and emerging U.S. national security issues. His research focuses on the security threat posed by Iran, particularly its regional activities and nuclear program, and on Iran’s internal politics. He has written on Iran and related regional issues for The Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, National Review Online, The Daily Caller and CNN. He is a member of the Foreign Policy Initiative’s Future Leaders Program for 2011–12. Before joining AEI, Mr. Zarif worked as a financial analyst and consultant in the private sector.