Kimberly Kagan

Kimberly Ellen Kagan (born 1972) is an American military historian. She heads the Institute for the Study of War and has taught at West Point, Yale, Georgetown University, and American University. Kagan has published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Weekly Standard and elsewhere.[1] She supported the 2007 troop surge in Iraq and has since advocated for an expanded and restructured American military campaign in Afghanistan.[2] In 2009, she served on Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's strategic assessment team.[2]

Kimberly Kagan
Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, Basra, Iraq, 2008
Born1972 (age 48–49)
NationalityUS
EducationPhD, ancient history
Alma materYale University
EmployerInstitute for the Study of War

Early life

Kimberly Kagan is the daughter of Kalman Kessler, a Jewish accountant and school teacher from New York City and his wife Frances.[3][4][5] She received her BA in classical civilization and her PhD in history from Yale University. At Yale, Kagan met her husband Frederick Kagan, who is an American resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI),[6] son of Donald Kagan, a well-known historian and brother of Robert Kagan, another well-known writer and publicist. Robert Kagan's wife is Victoria Nuland, a former US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

Kagan held an Olin Postdoctoral Fellowship in Military History at Yale in International Security Studies from 2004–2005. She is an affiliate of Harvard's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, where she was a National Security Fellow from 2002–2003.[7]

Career

Dr. Kagan has conducted eight battlefield circulations of Iraq since May 2007 for the MNF-I Commanding General, three of which were in Afghanistan for the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). She served on the Joint Campaign Plan Assessment Team for Multi-National Force-Iraq-U.S. Mission Iraq in October 2008, and as part of the Civilian Advisory Team for the CENTCOM strategic review in January 2009.[8] Kagan served in Kabul as a member of General Stanley McChrystal's strategic assessment team, composed of civilian experts, during his strategic review in June and July 2009. She returned to Afghanistan in the summer of 2010 to assist General David Petraeus with transition tasks following his assumption of command in Afghanistan. Kagan also serves on the Academic Advisory Board at the Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence at CENTCOM.

Kagan is the founder and President of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). ISW describes itself as a "non-partisan non-profit think tank which seeks to provide research and analysis specifically regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. ISW produces comprehensive reports on the realities of war; focusing on military operations, enemy threats, and political trends in diverse conflict zones".[9]

On May 25, 2010, Kagan participated in a briefing on Capitol Hill focusing on Iraq's political crisis that included remarks from Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie and Dr. Kenneth Pollack, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.[10] Kagan also participated in a Brookings Institution event entitled "Prospects for Afghanistan's Future: Assessing the Outcome of the Afghan Presidential Election" alongside Dr. Michael E. O'Hanlon.[11]

Kagan's organization, ISW, funded the creation of a 34-minute documentary, The Surge: the Untold Story[12] with CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus, ISW Chairman, U.S Army General Jack Keane (ret.) and LTG James Dubik (ret.) describing the surge strategy in Iraq and how some high-ranking US officers claim to have pacified the country and thus won the war.[13]

Along with General Keane, Kagan is an advisory board member of Spirit of America, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports the safety and success of Americans serving abroad and the local people and partners they seek to help.[14]

Works
  • Kagan, Kimberly, ed. (2010). The Imperial Moment (Hardcover ed.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674035874. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  • Kagan, Kimberly (2006). The Eye of Command (Hardcover ed.). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11521-1. Retrieved 10 January 2021.

Kagan has published numerous essays including "Don't Short-Circuit the Surge";[16] "How to Surge the Taliban";[17] and "Why the Taliban are Winning—For Now".[2]

References
  1. "Kimberly Kagan, President". Institute for the Study of War. Archived from the original on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  2. Kagan, Kimberly (2009-08-10). "Why the Taliban are Winning—For Now". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
  3. Bender, Ryan (2009-10-11). "Husband and Wife take center stage in debate on Afghanistan". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2007-01-19.
  4. Margolick, David (2010-01-22). "David Margolick: Resurgence of Neoconservatism". Newsweek. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  5. "Paid Notice: Deaths KESSLER, FRANCES E. (STEIN)". New York Times. 1997-11-04. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  6. "Scholars and Fellows". American Enterprise Institute. November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
  7. "Fellows and Alumni". WCFIA Harvard University. November 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-10-23. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  8. "Staff Bios". Institute for the Study of War. November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
  9. "About Us". Institute for the Study of War. December 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  10. "Iraq's Political Crisis with Kimberly Kagan and Samir Sumaidaie". Institute for the Study of War. May 25, 2010. Archived from the original on December 2, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
  11. "Prospects for Afghanistan's Future: Assessing the Outcome of the Afghan Presidential Election". Brookings Institution. August 25, 2009. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  12. The Surge; The Untold Story (Trailer) (Video). Washington DC: Institute for the Study of War. October 2009. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
  13. ""The Surge: the Untold Story"". Institute for the Study of War. November 9, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  14. "Dr. Kimberly Kagan". Spirit of America.
  15. Anderson, Gary (2009-08-23). "Wrapping up operations in Iraq". Washington Times. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  16. Kagan, Kimberly (2008-01-26). "Don't Short-Circuit the Surge" (Opinion). Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
  17. Boot, Max; Kagan, Frederick; Kagan, Kimberly (2009-03-13). "How to Surge the Taliban" (Opinion). New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
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