Michael Eisenstadt David Pollock How the United States Benefits ...

About the Authors
MICHAEL EISENSTADT is director of the Military and Security Studies Program at The Washington
Institute, focusing on irregular and conventional warfare and nuclear weapons proliferation in the Middle
East. A former U.S. Army reservist, he served as an exchange officer with the Israel Defense Forces in 1989
and on the staff of the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian territories
in 2008–2009. His publications include Knives, Tanks, and Missiles: Israel’s Security Revolution with Eliot
Cohen and Andrew Bacevich (Washington Institute, 1998), The Last Arab-Israeli Battlefield? Implications of
an Israeli Withdrawal from Lebanon with Patrick Clawson (Washington Institute, 2000), Iran’s Influence in
Iraq: Countering Tehran’s Whole-of-Government Approach with Michael Knights and Ahmed Ali (Washington
Institute, 2011), and The Strategic Culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran: Operational and Policy Implications
(Marine Corps University, 2011).
DAVID POLLOCK is the Kaufman fellow at The Washington Institute, focusing on Mideast political
dynamics and U.S. policy in the region. He is also editor-in-chief of the Institute’s Arabic website and
the Fikra Forum Arabic/English blog. Previously, he served as senior advisor for the Broader Middle East
(2002–2007), senior regional expert on the secretary’s Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State
(1996–2001), and chief of Near East/South Asia/Africa research at the U.S. Information Agency. Fluent in
both Hebrew and Arabic, he holds a PhD in Mideast studies and political science from Harvard University
and has taught at Harvard and George Washington University. His previous Washington Institute monographs
include the edited collection Prevent Breakdown, Prepare for Breakthrough: How President Obama
Can Promote Israeli-Palestinian Peace (2008) and Actions, Not Just Attitudes: A New Paradigm for U.S.-Arab
Relations (2010).
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The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, its Board of Trustees,
or its Board of Advisors.
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