Foreign Policy Research Institute A Nation Must Think Before it Acts The Hon. Dov S. Zakheim

The Hon. Dov S. Zakheim

Vice-Chair - FPRI Board of Trustees

Member, Board of Editors - Orbis

Dov S. Zakheim is Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Senior Fellow at the CNA Corporation, a federally funded think tank. Previously he was Senior Vice President of Booz Allen Hamilton where he led the Firm’s support of U.S. Combatant Commanders worldwide.

From 2001 to April 2004 he was Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Defense, serving as principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on financial and budgetary matters, leading over 50,000 staff, developing and managing the world’s largest budgets, and negotiating five major defense agreements with US allies and partners. From 2002-2004 Dr. Zakheim was DOD’s coordinator of civilian programs in Afghanistan. He also helped organize the 2003 New York (UN) and Madrid Donors conferences for Iraq reconstruction.

From 1987 to 2001 he was both corporate vice president of System Planning Corporation, a technology and analysis firm based in Arlington, Va. and chief executive officer of its subsidiary, SPC International Corp.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Dr. Zakheim served as a senior foreign policy advisor to then-Governor Bush. In 2012 he was a policy advisor to former Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. He served as co-leader for national security in former Governor Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.

From 1985 until 1987, Dr. Zakheim was Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Planning and Resources, playing an active role in the Department’s system acquisition, strategic planning, programming and budget processes. He held other senior DOD posts from 1981-1985.

Dr. Zakheim has served on numerous government, corporate, non-profit and charitable boards. He is Vice Chairman of the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Board of Trustees, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Center for The National Interest.

Dr. Zakheim’s membership of government boards and panels includes the National Intelligence Council’s International Business Practices Advisory Panel, which he chaired (2008-2011); the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad (1991-93); the Task Force on Defense Reform (1997); the Board of Visitors of the Department of Defense Overseas Regional Schools (1998-2001); the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan (2008-11); the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission (2013-2015); the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel (2004-16) and the Defense Business Board (2004-2010, 2013-2017), which he helped establish. He currently serves on the Board of Control of the United States Naval Academy Athletic Association and is an Executive Advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations.

Dr. Zakheim is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; Chatham House/the Royal Institute of International Affairs (UK) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in 2011.

A 1970 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Columbia University with a B.A., summa cum laude, Dr. Zakheim also studied at the London School of Economics. He holds a doctorate in economics and politics at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He has been an adjunct Senior Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, an adjunct Scholar of the Heritage Foundation and an adjunct professor at the National War College and at four universities.

Dr. Zakheim is the author of numerous books, monographs, chapters in edited volumes, articles and book reviews. His writings have been translated into Arabic, French, Hebrew, Italian and Norwegian. He lectures widely and provides print, radio and television commentary on national security policy issues domestically and internationally. He blogs on The National Interest and The Hill.

Dr. Zakheim is the recipient of numerous awards for his government, professional and civic work, including the Defense Department’s highest civilian award in 1986, 1987 and 2004.


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