Mailing address
Not in Residence
Eric S. Edelman
Senior Associate, International Security Program
Experience
Ambassador Eric S. Edelman retired as a Career Minister from the U.S. Foreign Service on May 1, 2009. He has served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House. He was the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (August 2005–January 2009). He served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republics of Turkey and Finland and was Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs. He has been Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State, a special assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and special assistant to Secretary of State George Shultz. His other assignments include the State Department Operations Center, Prague, Moscow, and Tel Aviv, where he was a member of the U.S. Middle East Delegation to the West Bank/Gaza Autonomy Talks. He received a B.A. in History and Government from Cornell University in 1972 and a Ph.D. in U.S. Diplomatic History from Yale University in 1981. His research interests include: the practice of diplomacy, defense policy, incipient nuclear powers and extended deterrence, anti-americanism, counterinsurgency and interagency operations, as well as civil-military relations.
AP Photo
July 6, 2009
"Defense For a Real Threat"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By Trey Obering and Eric S. Edelman, Senior Associate, International Security Program
"The East-West Institute released a study in late May by U.S. and Russian "experts" on the Iranian missile threat that concluded the threat "is not imminent and that in any event the system currently proposed would not be effective against it." The next day, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says, Iran apparently tested a multistage, solid-propellant missile with a range of 1,200 to 1,500 miles, putting much of Europe within range."
