Brookings Press Blog

Brookings authors Benjamin Wittes and Martin Indyk in the news

Experts from the Brookings Institution give their opinion and get quizzed on global and national events

With the recent departure of American troops form Iraq, the topical Iranian elections and uprisings, and the ongoing Israel-Palestine state struggle, Brookings intellectuals Benjamin Wittes and Martin Indyk analyze Obama’s approach to addressing terrorism and the recent happenings in Iran, Iraq, Israel as well as the crises in the Middle East respectively.

In a Washington Post op-ed writted with Jack Goldsmith, Benjamin Wittes examines past presidencies and suggests the model the Obama administration can take to address new ground rules for a war on terror. His assessment: “Roosevelt's approach, not Bush-era unilateralism, should be President Obama's model.” In his forthcoming book, Legislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform, Wittes addresses the legal issues surrounding the struggle against terrorism.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Martin Indyk, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, expounds on America’s role in Middle East affairs. With years of international experience as ambassador to Israel (April 1995-September 1997 and January 2000-July 2001) and recent books—Which Path to Persia? and Restoring the Balance—under his belt, Indyk offers his expertise on how President Obama can tackle the issues in the region stating, “Obama is determined. He understands that he has to be persistent, and that will require everybody else to change their calculations.”

Martin Indyk is acting vice president and director of Foreign Policy at The Brookings Institution, and Benjamin Wittes is currently a senior fellow of Governance Studies at Brookings and the contributing editor of The Atlantic.

- Learn more about the changing circulations in the Middle East from Indyk's books, Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy toward Iran and Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President

- Read the Indyk's full interview with Ruthie Blum Leibowitz of The Jerusalem Post

- Learn more about America’s struggle against terrorism from the book Legislating the War on Terror

- Read Wittes and Goldsmith's Washington Post op-ed, "Will Obama Follow Bush Or FDR?"

Journey into Islam experts comment on Obama’s Cairo speech

Ahmed and Martin featured on NPR, WaPo, HuffPo and C-SPAN

Akbar Ahmed, author of Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization offered his own insights on President Obama’s speech at Cairo University this morning in a Washington Post guest column. Referring to his 2006 travels into Muslim nations for the research behind Journey into Islam, Ahmed called on the president and the world to continue repeating the statements and actions of cross-cultural understanding.

Yesterday, on Wednesday, June 3, Ahmed was also featured in an interview on the Diane Rehm Show. Ahmed, whom the BBC has referred to as “the world’s leading authority on contemporary Islam,” is currently taking a one-year sabbatical to research Muslims in America. His cross-country study of the attitudes and perceptions Americans have regarding Muslims will be published in a forthcoming complement to Journey into Islam, tentatively titled Journey into America. C-SPAN also had video of Ahmed discussing President Obama's speech in Cairo today.

In related news, Frankie Martin, one of Ahmed’s researchers for Journey into Islam, was published in the Huffington Post on Tuesday, June 2 with the article “Obama and the Dialogue of Civilizations.” In the article Martin ties his work for Journey into Islam into speculations on Obama’s Thursday morning speech at Cairo University:

“Given these challenges, what can the President say that will make his Cairo speech a success? I believe an extensive trip I took through the Muslim world in 2006 with Professor Akbar Ahmed, the Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, can yield some answers.”

Martin is currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair Research Fellow at American University's School of International Service.

- Read Ahmed’s column in the Washington Post

- Listen to Ahmed’s interview on the Diane Rehm show

- See Ahmed discuss President Obama's speech in Cairo on C-SPAN

- Read the full text of Martin’s HuffPo article, “Obama and the Dialogue of Civilizations”

- Follow the Journey into America blog

- Learn more about Journey into Islam

Power & Responsibility on Huffington Post

Changing how we address global and national security

The Huffington Post ran a piece on global and national security adapted from the book Power & Responsibility. In the post, authors Bruce Jones, Carlos Pascual and Stephen John Stedman discuss how threats that preoccupy other parts of the world—poverty, civil wars, regional conflicts—threaten national security here in the United States just as much as terrorism, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, pandemics of deadly disease, global warming, and economic instability. According to the authors, international cooperation is key to promoting peace and prosperity.

- Check out the article to see their recommendations for rebuilding international order

- Learn more about Power & Responsibility, the book

- Watch video, listen to audio, and read the transcript from a recent Brookings event on Power & Responsibility

Brookings Authors on Gaza, Iraq, and Pakistan

Experts offer commentary on foreign affairs

In addition to penning timely and important books, Brookings Press authors often provide expert analysis of current policy decisions and discussions. Here are three recent articles.

Tamara Cofman Wittes, author of Freedom’s Unsteady March, writes on YaleGlobal that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue must combine the aspirations of Arab citizens with regional interest.

Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, who recently authored a chapter on Iraq in Restoring the Balance, discuss President Obama’s decision to withdraw American troops from that country in the New York Times.

Akbar Ahmed, author of Journey into Islam, explains why he believes that Obama must save Pakistan on The Huffington Post.

- Learn more about Freedom's Unsteady March

- Learn more about Restoring the Balance

- Learn more about Journey into Islam

One Sunday, Two Reviews in NYTBR

The Search for al Qaeda and Restoring the Balance reviewed 1/18

The January 18th issue of the New York Times Book Review includes reviews of The Search for Al Qaeda and Restoring the Balance. From the review of The Search for Al Qaeda by Bruce Riedel and The Duel by Tariq Ali:

The pros and cons of continuing or escalating the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan can be gleaned from two recent books, “The Search for Al Qaeda” by Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. analyst and adviser to three presidents, and “The Duel” by Tariq Ali. One thing they agree on—and which was underscored by the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai—is that Pakistan is going to be at the forefront of foreign policy concerns for the Obama administration.

. . .

Riedel manages to distill the essence of Al Qaeda in just 150 pages. Among other things, he notes that the Islamic fundamentalists do not hate America’s values, only its policies.

. . .

Which man is right, which one wrong? Whatever the case, their books are a starting point for a much-needed debate.

From the review of Restoring the Balance by Richard Haass and Martin Indyk:

Beginning in July 2007, two of this country’s pre-eminent Middle East policy research institutions, both with close ties to the incoming administration, the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations, took the rare step of joining forces and asking 15 of their scholars to focus on the crucial challenges facing the next president. The results are collected in “Restoring the Balance,” a thoughtful and nicely structured collection of seven essays that examine the Iranian challenge and its many parts.

. . .

The Middle East is rich in awkward realities. Still, whether or not this plan will succeed, much of it will probably be attempted. In that sense, “Restoring the Balance” is a very useful and readable introduction to the thinking beyond the coming shift.

- Read "War Room Debate", the review including The Search for al Qaeda, by Ray Bonner

- Learn more about The Search for al Qaeda

- Read "Mission to Tehran", the review of Restoring the Balance, by Ethan Bronner

- Learn more about Restoring the Balance

Martin Indyk on Charlie Rose and Today Shows

Restoring the Balance will also have DC and NYC book launches

Martin Indyk, coauthor of Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President, will be appearing on the Charlie Rose show on Tuesday, December 2 and on NBC's Today Show Wednesday, December 3! On December 2 there will also be two major launch events for this new book: the Brookings Institution will host a launch event during the day in Washington, and the Council on Foreign Relations will host an event in New York later that evening.

Indyk was the Ambassador to Israel and assistant secretary of state for near east affairs during the Clinton Administration. He now directs the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. Restoring the Balance will be available in bookstores shortly.

- Learn more about Restoring the Balance

Brookings and the Presidential Transition

Three new titles highlight the challenges facing the incoming administration

As supporters of Barack Obama celebrate their candidate’s historic victory, political observers and potential appointees are already turning their attention to questions of transition and governing. Three new titles from the Brookings Institution Press bring timely and expert analysis to bear on the changing political landscape and the immediate challenges facing the incoming administration. Each has garnered considerable attention already and should continue to do so.

• Stephen Hess, the nation’s most experienced expert on presidential transitions, is author of What Do We Do Now? A Workbook for the President-Elect. His book already has been positively reviewed in Library Journal and featured in U.S. News and World Report. What Do We Do Now? will be launched and excerpted as part of an ambitious Brookings-wide initiative on the presidential transition. On Thursday, November 6, Hess will appear on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show, Fox 5 DC morning news, and will also participate in a Washington Post on-line chat. The book will also be excerpted in tomorrow’s edition of Politico.

• Kurt Campbell and James Steinberg are the authors of Difficult Transitions: Foreign Policy Troubles at the Outset of Presidential Power. Drawing on decades of high-level government service and public policy experience, former presidential advisers Kurt Campbell and James Steinberg review past foreign policy episodes and identify the major pitfalls that a president-elect must try to avoid in the early days of an administration. Both authors are well known in policy circles — e.g Steinberg has been widely mentioned as a potential National Security Adviser. The book will be launched with fanfare on November 13 at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank. The dust jacket includes endorsements from Brent Scowcroft, Richard Holbrooke, and Madeleine Albright.

• Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Martin Indyk, former US ambassador to Israel and current director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, head up a stellar cast of authors on Restoring the Balance: A Middle East Strategy for the Next President. This is the first book to leverage fully the resources of these eminent foreign policy organizations. The goal is a new, nonpartisan strategy toward the tinderbox Middle East. The book will be rolled out in both New York and Washington with launch events on Tuesday, December 2, and it will receive a heavy publicity push from both institutions. It may ride the coattails of last week’s cover story in Newsweek, coauthored by Haass. Among the other authors are Steve Simon (coauthor of The Next Attack), Kenneth Pollack (A Path Out of the Desert), and Bruce Ridel (The Search for al Qaeda).

- Learn more about What Do We Do Now?.

- Learn more about Difficult Transitions.

- Learn more about Restoring the Balance.

The Search for al Qaeda Featured in Newsweek

John Barry interviews author Bruce Riedel

This latest issue of Newsweek features an interview with Bruce Riedel, author of The Search for al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future:

Bruce Riedel was in the White House Situation Room on 9/11. For 30 years he was one of the CIA's senior analysts of the Middle East, rising to be a special assistant to the President on the National Security Council staff. Now he has written an analysis of Al Qaeda—and a critique of America's strategy in combating it. He outlined his concerns to NEWSWEEK's John Barry.

NEWSWEEK: Why this book now?
Bruce Riedel: I starting writing this book two years when I retired from CIA, because I think Al Qaeda is still the No. 1 threat to America; but there is still much that is misunderstood or not understood about the nature of that threat.

- Read the Newsweek article by John Barry, "How to Fight Al Qaeda Now: An Ex-CIA analyst talks about the terrorists’ power—and their vulnerabilities".

- Learn more about The Search for al Qaeda.

U.S. Foreign Policy Needs a New Playbook

Stale Cold War mentality fosters distrust toward the United States

America has a bad habit of compromising its core values of freedom and democracy by forging alliances with dictators who don’t support these basic tenets. During the Cold War, all a developing country needed to do in order to gain U.S. support was to stay out of the Soviet orbit—the enemy of our enemy was our friend. We thus found ourselves siding with despots such as Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu of Zaire, the Shah of Iran—the list goes on. Similarly, being a source of vital resources or a protector of “international stability” in today’s world is too often sufficient qualification for U.S. aid.

Author Hilton Root takes a shrewd look at what is happening in American foreign affairs in Alliance Curse: How America Lost the Third World. He challenges long-held assumptions about our actions abroad, arguing that “outmoded” may be a more accurate description of our foreign policy than “current.”

Root’s book, just published by the Brookings Institution Press, comes at a turning point in America’s history. Unfortunately, our recent track record shows that we haven’t learned from the past. In Pakistan, a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism, the United States has contributed billions of dollars to Pervez Musharraf’s government, largely to secure its support in the war on terror. That aid, however, still has not secured the loyalty of the military regime or the friendship of the population. Root questions the wisdom of providing aid to governments that remain corrupt and tyrannical, in light of the potential blowback.

So, what should America do at this crossroads? Root, a professor of public policy at George Mason University, argues that fostering economic development—not propping up dictators—is the better course for the country’s short-term and long-term goals. In the long term, it is actually a more effective strategy for building stability and winning the hearts and minds of the developing world.

You can hear from the author himself about his alternative strategy to close the gap between security and economic development. Hilton Root will be appearing at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. this Saturday, July 19th at 1 p.m. Don’t miss out!

- Learn more about Alliance Curse.

- Learn more about the event at Politics & Prose.

Does the Earth Need Saving?

The climate change debate has branched out to the U.S. Senate

How many trees must fall to save the earth? According to Senators Joe Lieberman and John Warner: however many trees it takes to create a 492-paged bill on climate change. How long might it take to read said 492 paged bill? Well, on Wednesday June 4,the Senate found out. The AP article “Climate bill stalls in Senate after dispute” discusses how Senate clerks spent eight hours reading the bill aloud when “Republicans demanded a reading of the 492-page document because of a partisan dispute over judicial nominations. . . . The bill, the most ambitious legislation on global warming ever taken up in Congress, would cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 71 percent by mid-century from power plants, refineries, factories and transportation.” This controversial bill may or may not make it out of the Senate, but the fact that it was introduced points to a significant number of people who believe something must be done to safeguard our planet from its most dangerous inhabitants: humans. Does this bill constitute the best course of action? Its provisions continue to be heavily disputed, but to determine the proper solution we must all first agree that a problem exists. Kurt Campbell outlines a compelling argument for the security and foreign policy implications of climate change in his most recent publication Climatic Cataclysm: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Climate Change. Campbell and his contributors examine three scenarios as a basis for future planning and analyze the implications of each, ranging from disease proliferation, large-scale migration, and increased low-intensity conflict to the risk of nuclear war. The effects of climate change have been felt in communities throughout the world, and now the debate regarding this environmental issue has finally found an arena in the United States Senate. Nobel Laureate, and former Vice President, Al Gore believes Campbell’s book “is an important effort to translate the broad outlines of climate change into more specific visualizations of the social, political, and moral consequences. . . .” Climate change may prove to be the single greatest challenge confronting the United States and indeed, human civilization. Climatic Cataclysm helps explain why.

- Read the AP article “Climate bill stalls in Senate after dispute.”

- Is the world edging toward a climatic cataclysm? Explore the evidence Climatic Cataclysm.