Meghan L. O'Sullivan
Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Contact:
Telephone: 617-496-4308
Fax: 617-495-8963
Email: meghan_osullivan@ksg.harvard.edu
April 2009
"Obama's Report Card"
Op-Ed, Foreign Policy
By Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
President Obama deserves the high marks for his treatment of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in his first 100 days. With his trip to Baghdad and his March 27 speech on Afghanistan, Obama has taken ownership of both wars and offered reasonable paths forward. On Iraq in particular, he deserves kudos and gets an A-.
March 29, 2009
"TOPIC A: Obama's Afghanistan Strategy"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
President Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan deserves high marks on several fronts: The president made a compelling case connecting these countries with U.S. interests; he committed substantially more military and civilian resources to the effort; and he placed equal weight on Afghanistan and Pakistan -- the latter being the true epicenter of this conflict.
Belfer Center
Spring 2009
"Q&A with Meghan O'Sullivan"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School and Beth Maclin, Former Communications Assistant, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Meghan L. O'Sullivan is a lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. From July 2004 to September 2007, she was special assistant to President George W. Bush and served as deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan during part of that tenure. She spent more than two years in Iraq, most recently in fall 2008 at the request of Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General Raymond Odierno, to help conclude the security agreement and strategic framework agreement between the United States and Iraq.
March 1, 2009
"TOPIC A: Obama's Plan for Iraq"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
President Obama's declared shift of the primary mission of U.S. forces from "population security" to a more focused set of counterterrorism, training and force-protection tasks by August 2010 is both welcome and reasonable. This evolution was originally advocated by the Baker-Hamilton commission in 2006 and is actually already well underway. And just as the population security mission required more forces to execute (hence the "surge"), a narrower mission set will require fewer.
January 21, 2009
Memo to the New President: Managing the Iraq War
Media Feature
By Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
In this exclusive web video, Meghan L. O'Sullivan, lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center and former Special Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, discusses the challenges in Iraq facing the Obama administration.
AP Photo
March 19, 2008
Five Years Into Iraq: A Report Card
Media Feature
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School, Kevin Ryan, Director, Defense and Intelligence Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, Eric Rosenbach, Faculty Affiliate, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (on leave) and Paul Kane, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, February 2004–August 2008
With the war in Iraq stretching past the five-year mark, experts weigh in on what has gone right, what has gone wrong, and lessons learned. Paul Kane, a Marine veteran of Iraq, writes of the “serious disconnect” between civilians and those who have served in uniform, while Meghan O’Sullivan, former deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, says that today “we have the right strategy in place — and it is making a difference on the ground.”
