Paul D. Miller is an American academic, writer and former White House staffer for Presidents
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
. He is a professor in the Practice of International Affairs at
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 ...
's
School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) is the school of international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. It is considered to be one of the world's leading international affairs schools, granting degrees at both ...
. He is a former associate director of
The William P. Clements Jr. Center for National Security
The Clements Center for National Security is a nonpartisan policy and research center at the University of Texas at Austin. The center is named after former Texas Governor and Deputy Secretary of Defense Bill Clements. The goal of the Clements Ce ...
at the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
. He formerly worked as an adjunct political scientist at the
RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...
. He is a reserve Army officer and veteran of the War in Afghanistan.
Miller's writing has appeared in ''
Foreign Affairs
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', ''
The American Interest
''The American Interest'' (''AI'') was a bimonthly magazine focusing primarily on foreign policy, international affairs, global economics, and military matters.
History
The magazine was founded in 2005 by a number of members of the editorial ...
'', ''
World Affairs
''World Affairs'' is an American quarterly journal covering international relations. At one time, it was an official publication of the American Peace Society. The magazine has been published since 1837 and was re-launched in January 2008 as a new ...
'', ''
The Washington Quarterly
''The Washington Quarterly'' (abbreviated as ''TWQ'') is a magazine of international affairs covering topics and issues concerning global security, diplomatic relations, and policy implications. Founded by prestigious think tank, Center for Strateg ...
'', ''War on the Rocks'', and elsewhere.
Education
Dr. Miller received his PhD in International Relations 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 ...
and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University's
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
. His BA in Political Theory is also from Georgetown University.
Career
Dr. Miller served as Director for Afghanistan on the
National Security Council
A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
staff from September 2007 to September 2009 under Presidents
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
. Miller served on the staff of
Douglas Lute
Lt. Gen. Douglas Edward Lute (born November 3, 1952) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and public servant who served as the United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 2013 to 2017. He was nominated for the post by Preside ...
, who served as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan for President Bush and, subsequently, as Special Coordinator for Afghanistan and Pakistan for President Obama. Miller supported the presidential transition and continued in his position during the Obama Administration before accepting a position as assistant professor of International Security Affairs 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 ...
in Washington, D.C.
Views on Afghanistan
Miller writes regularly about U.S. policy towards Afghanistan, Pakistan, and South Asia. He has argued that "The greatest threat to long-term success in Afghanistan is not the Taliban, who are fairly weak compared to other insurgent movements around the world. It is the Afghan government’s endemic weakness and the international community’s failure to address it." Miller's proposed solution is greater attention to reconstruction and stabilization in Afghanistan. He has criticized the views of conservatives, like
George Will
George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American libertarian-conservative political commentator and author. He writes regular columns for ''The Washington Post'' and provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC.Hadas Gold, Gold, Hadas (May ...
, as well as moderates and liberals, like
David Rothkopf
David J. Rothkopf (born December 24, 1955) is a foreign policy, national security and political affairs analyst and commentator. He is the founder and CEO of TRG Media and The Rothkopf Group, a columnist for the Daily Beast and a member of the U ...
, who argue the war effort in Afghanistan is unwinnable for the U.S.
Publications
Books
* "The Religion of American Greatness: What’s Wrong with Christian Nationalism",Inter Varsity Press Academic, 2022
* ''American Power and Liberal Order: A Conservative Internationalist Grand Strategy'', Georgetown University Press, 2016
* ''Armed State Building: Confronting State Failure, 1898 - 2012,'' Cornell University Press, 2013
* ''Necessary War: What America Needs to Know About the War in Afghanistan,'' The Cicero Press, 2012
References
External links
Clements Center bioPublications PortfolioLinkedIn ProfileShadow Government blog.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Paul D.
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American bloggers
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Georgetown University alumni
United States Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
University of Texas at Austin faculty
Obama administration personnel
George W. Bush administration personnel
People of the Central Intelligence Agency
United States Army officers
United States Army reservists