Stephen Flanagan

Stephen J. Flanagan holds the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Diplomacy and National Security at CSIS. Before joining CSIS in 2007, he served as director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies and vice president for research at the National Defense University (NDU) for seven years, where he reshaped the Institute’s programs to address emerging global and homeland security challenges after 9/11. He held several senior positions in government between 1989 and 1999 where he helped develop U.S. strategy for the post–Cold War era, including special assistant to the president and senior director for Central and Eastern Europe, National Security Council Staff; associate director and member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff; and national intelligence officer for Europe. Earlier in his career, he was a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2009–2010, he served as lead adviser to former secretary of state Madeleine Albright in her capacity as chair of the Group of Experts that developed the foundation for NATO’s Strategic Concept.

Flanagan has also held faculty and research appointments at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, the National War College, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He has authored 6 books and over 40 articles on transatlantic, Asian, and international security affairs. His most recent CSIS publications include Turkey’s Evolving Dynamics: Strategic Choices for U.S.-Turkey Relations (2009) and A Diminishing Transatlantic Partnership? The Impact of the Financial Crisis on European Defense and Foreign Assistance Capabilities (2011). He is a regular contributor to leading international and national media. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He serves on the editorial boards of The Washington Quarterly and International Security and on the Senior Steering Group of NATO Special Operations Headquarters. Flanagan is a recipient of the State Department’s Superior and Meritorious Service Awards, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Distinguished Civilian Service Award, as well as decorations from the presidents of Poland and Romania. He earned his A.B. in political science from Columbia University in 1973 and his Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, in 1979. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Monmouth University in 2011.