James Jay Carafano (born May 8, 1955) is the director of the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies and vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at
The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
. Carafano is also an adjunct professor at the
Institute of World Politics
The Institute of World Politics (IWP) is a private graduate school of national security, intelligence, and international affairs in Washington DC, and Reston, Virginia. Founded in 1990, it offers courses related to intelligence, national sec ...
.
Early life and education
Carafano was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, and raised in
East Meadow, New York
East Meadow is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York. The population was 38,132 at the 2010 census.
Many residents commute to Manhattan, which is away.
History
In 1 ...
. He holds an M.A. in British and early modern European history from
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, an M.A. in strategic studies from the
U.S. Army War College
The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officer ...
in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in diplomatic history from Georgetown.
Career
Military and academic
Carafano served 25 years in the Army in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, and the U.S., and he rose to the rank of
lieutenant colonel. During that time, he served as head speech writer for the
Army Chief of Staff and was the executive director of ''Joint Force Quarterly'', the Defense Department's military journal.
Carafano has taught at
Mount Saint Mary College
Mount Saint Mary College is a private Catholic college in Newburgh, New York. It was founded in 1959 by the Dominican Sisters.
The campus overlooks the Hudson River, halfway between New York City and Albany. More than 2,700 men and women are ...
in New York and served as a fleet professor at the U.S. Naval War College. He has been an assistant professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and, as of 2011, he serves as a visiting professor at the
National Defense University
The National Defense University (NDU) is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level education, training, and professional development of national security leaders. As ...
at
Fort Lesley McNair in
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
and at Georgetown.
[ Carafano joined ]The Institute of World Politics
The Institute of World Politics (IWP) is a private graduate school of national security, intelligence, and international affairs in Washington DC, and Reston, Virginia. Founded in 1990, it offers courses related to intelligence, national secu ...
in Washington, D.C., in 2013 as an adjunct professor. He is a member of the National Academies
A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humani ...
Board on Army Science and Technology, the Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee The Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee was established in January 1947 within the United States Army. In 1996, it was made a subcommittee of the Department of Defense Historical Advisory Committee.
History
The Department of the Ar ...
, and is a senior fellow at the George Washington University
The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...
Homeland Security Policy Institute.[ Carafano is an advisory board member of Spirit of America, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports the safety and success of Americans serving abroad and the local people and partners they seek to help.
]
Policy papers
Carafano co-authored the homeland security
Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...
report, ''Homeland Security 3.0: Building a National Enterprise to Keep America Safe, Free, and Prosperous''. He also co-wrote ''A New Strategy For Real Immigration Reform''. Writing regarding defense, Carafano's 2008 study ''Providing for the Common Defense: What 10 Years of Progress Would Look Like'', maps out a 10-year defense-strategy blueprint, including setting a floor on the defense budget as four percent of GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
.
Congress and media appearances
Carafano has testified before the U.S. Congress as an expert of defense, intelligence, and homeland security
Homeland security is an American national security term for "the national effort to ensure a homeland that is safe, secure, and resilient against terrorism and other hazards where American interests, aspirations, and ways of life can thrive" t ...
issues. He provided commentary for Fox News.
In 2013, Carafano co-produced a short documentary, ''Veteran Nation'', about the experiences of veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
s of the United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...
. The film was created in partnership with ColdWater Media and Esprit de Corps and screened at The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the preside ...
in February 2013.
Carafano is a Contributing Editor to the online national security publication ''1945''.
Trump transition team
Politico reported that Carafano was the primary aide to the State Department for the Donald Trump administration's transition team. He organized meetings with European and Canadian diplomatic representatives "to hear out concerns about the incoming administration. Carafano insisted he was not hosting the event on behalf of the president-elect. But diplomats and congressional staffers said they understand he is likely to emerge as the Trump team's liaison for State Department matters." In private meeting, Euro diplomats beseech Trump team to uphold transatlantic pacts, by Colum Lynch and Dan De Luce, Foreign Policy, November 17, 2016
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Bibliography
* ''After D-Day'' (2000)
* ''Waltzing in to the Cold War'' (2002)
* ''Independent Task Force Report, Emergency Responders: Drastically Underfunded, Dangerously Unprepared'' (2003)
* ''Homeland Security'' (2005)
* ''Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom'' (2005)
* ''GI Ingenuity: Improvisation, Technology and Winning World War II'' (2006)
* ''Mismanaging Mayhem: How Washington Responds to Crisis'' (2008)
* ''Private Sector, Public Wars: Contractors in Combat—Afghanistan, Iraq, and Future Conflicts'' (2008)
* ''Wiki at War: Conflict in a Socially Networked World'' (Texas A&M University Press, 2012)
References
External links
James Carafano at the Heritage Foundation
James Carafano articles
James Carafano media
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carafano, James
1955 births
American military writers
Georgetown University alumni
The Heritage Foundation
Naval War College faculty
United States Army officers
United States Military Academy alumni
Living people
People from East Meadow, New York