Eliot A. Cohen

Member, Board of Editors - Orbis

Eliot A. Cohen is the Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University and founding director of the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies.   He received his BA degree from Harvard University in 1977, and his PhD there in 1982.   After teaching at Harvard and at the Naval War College he served on the policy planning staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, coming to SAIS in 1990.   His books include Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime (2002), and Military Misfortunes:  The Anatomy of Failure in War (with John Gooch).  In 1991-93 he directed the US Air Force’s official multi-volume study of the 1991 Gulf War, The Gulf War Air Power Survey. He has served as an officer in the United States Army Reserve, and as a member of the Defense Policy Board of the Office of the Secretary of Defense as well as other government advisory bodies.  From 2007 to 2009 he was Counselor of the Department of State, serving as Secretary Condoleeza Rice’s senior adviser on strategic issues.  Simon & Schuster will publish his forthcoming book Conquered into Liberty in autumn 2011.

Books

The Big Stick: The Limits of Soft Power and the Necessity of Military Force