home > the cfr think tank > experts > steven simon
Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-202-509-8437
E-mail: ssimon@cfr.org
Location:
Washington, DC
Media downloads:
High-resolution photo (JPG, 466K)
One-page bio (PDF, 56K)
Award-winning coauthor of The Age of Sacred Terror and The Next Attack. Former director for global issues and senior director for transnational threats at the National Security Council. Current work examines the consequences of the American intervention in Iraq, Muslim/non-Muslim relations, and the role of religion in U.S. foreign policy.
Expertise:U.S. security policy in the Middle East and South Asia; Middle East politics; Palestinian-Israeli relations; transatlantic approaches to Islamic activism; terrorism and counterterrorism; intelligence reform.
Experience:Senior Analyst, Middle East and Terrorism, Rand (2003 - 2006); Adjunct Professor of Middle East Security Studies, Georgetown University (2005 - present); Deputy Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Carol Dean Senior Fellow in U.S. Security Studies, International Institute for Strategic Studies (1999 - 2003); Director for Global Issues and Senior Director for Transnational Threats, National Security Council (1994 - 1999).
Selected Publications:In Their Own Words (Washington Post Book World, October 2007); After the Surge: The Case for U.S. Military Disengagement from Iraq (Council on Foreign Relations, 2007) The Next Attack (Henry Holt, 2005); Building a Successful Palestinian State (coauthor, Rand Corporation, 2005); The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State (coauthor, Rand Corporation, 2005); Iraq at the Crossroads: State and Society in the Shadow of Regime Change (coeditor, Oxford University Press/IISS 2003); The Age of Sacred Terror (Random House, 2002).
Current Research Projects
Past Research Project
September 8, 2008
Transcript
A discussion of how to proceed in Iraq, and what the following steps within that country should be.
See more in Iraq, Democracy and Human Rights, Economics, Society and Culture, U.S. Strategy and Politics
September 8, 2008
Video
With violence down and U.S. troop deaths at their lowest point since the Iraq war began, military analysts are in near-agreement that Iraq is more secure today. But CFR's Stephen Biddle and Steven Simon disagree on how to ensure stability continues. They discuss their views during this inaugural Foreign Affairs Live debate.
See more in Iraq, Defense Strategy, U.S. Strategy and Politics
September 8, 2008
Audio
With violence down and U.S. troop deaths at their lowest point since the Iraq war began, military analysts are in near-agreement that Iraq is more secure today. But CFR's Stephen Biddle and Steven Simon disagree on how to ensure stability continues. They discuss their views during this inaugural Foreign Affairs Live debate.
See more in Iraq, National Security and Defense, Conflict Assessment
July 15, 2008
Op-Ed
International Herald Tribune
The events of the past eight years have brought the Middle East to a precipice, write Richard Clarke, Steve Simon, and Ray Takeyh. To deal with this situation, America will need a president of intellectual independence, strategic flexibility and considerable political imagination.
See more in Middle East, International Peace and Security
Updated: May 9, 2008
Online Debate
Two CFR experts on the war, Max Boot, senior fellow for national security studies, and Steven Simon, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, debate whether the surge has put Iraq on the path to success.
See more in Iraq, Defense/Homeland Security, Wars and Warfare
April 23, 2008
Transcript
See more in United States, Europe/Russia, Middle East
April 23, 2008
Audio
Listen to experts discuss the U.S. and European approaches to dealing with challenges in the broader Middle East.
This symposium was made possible by the generosity of the European Commission and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
See more in United States, Europe/Russia, Middle East
May/June 2008
Podcast
This audio includes readings of selected articles from the May/June 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs.
See more in United States
April 16, 2008
Op-Ed
International Herald Tribune
Washington must return to the kind of diplomacy that Bush has largely neglected, argues Steven Simon.
See more in United States, Iraq
May/June 2008
Podcast
From the May/June 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs: Recent short-term gains in Iraq have come at the expense of the long-term goal of a stable, unitary Iraq.
See more in Iraq, Defense Strategy
May/June 2008
Foreign Affairs Article — Summary
The Bush administration's new strategy in Iraq has produced short-term gains at the expense of the long-term goal of a stable, unitary Iraq.
See more in Iraq, Wars and Warfare, Nation Building
January 1, 2008
Article
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas
Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson write that "the history of the Vietnam War teaches that to preserve American strength and prestige, we must begin withdrawing from Iraq now."
See more in Vietnam, Iraq, Wars and Warfare, Foreign Policy History
November 28, 2007
News Briefing
CFR experts offer their analysis of the proceedings at the Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
See more in Israel, Palestinian Authority, Diplomacy
November 27, 2007
Op-Ed
Star-Tribune
Steve Andreasen and Steven Simon write that voters should consider which candidate will advocate the need for a deeper economic and political commitment to the region, in the Star-Tribune.
See more in Iraq, Wars and Warfare, Foreign Policy History
November 12, 2007
Transcript
Panel discussion of Muslim life in America with CFR Senior Fellow Steven Simon as Presider.
See more in United States, Ethnicity and National Identity, Religion
November 12, 2007
Audio
Listen to experts discuss the experience of Muslim communities in the United States, including the relative integration of immigrant Muslim populations in America as compared to those in Europe.
See more in United States, Religion
September 8, 2007
Op-Ed
Los Angeles Times
See more in Iraq, Wars and Warfare, U.S. Election 2008
July 25, 2007
Op-Ed
American Prospect
See more in Ireland, Iraq, Ethnicity and National Identity, Society and Culture, Terrorism
July 24, 2007
Op-Ed
New York Times
See more in Pakistan, Iraq, Counterterrorism
In The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the Bush administration’s struggle to balance security and openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
Complete list of CFR Books.
This report lays out a thoughtful agenda for U.S. policy toward the Democratic Republic of Congo, arguing that what happens there should matter to the United States--for humanitarian reasons as well as economic and strategic ones.
In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Gary Samore
Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9627
gsamore@cfr.org
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
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