Kimberly Ellen Kagan (born 1972) is an American military historian. She heads the

Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is a United States–based think tank founded in 2007 by Kimberly Kagan, providing research and analysis regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. It has produced reports on the Syrian War, the Wa ...

and has taught at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

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 American University. Kagan has published in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

The Weekly Standard ''The Weekly Standard'' was an American neoconservative political magazine of news, analysis and commentary, published 48 times per year. Originally edited by founders Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes, the ''Standard'' had been described as a "re ...

'' and elsewhere. In 2009, she served on Afghanistan commander Gen.

Stanley McChrystal Stanley Allen McChrystal (born August 14, 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 where his organization was credited with the death of Abu Musab al-Zarq ...

's strategic assessment team.

Early life

Kimberly Kagan is the daughter of Kalman Kessler, a Jewish accountant and school teacher from New York City and his wife Frances. She received her BA(1993) in classical civilization and her PhD in history from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. At Yale, Kagan met her husband Frederick Kagan, who is an American resident scholar at the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

(AEI), son of

Donald Kagan Donald Kagan (; May 1, 1932August 6, 2021) was a Lithuanian-born American historian and classicist at Yale University specializing in ancient Greece, notable for his four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War. He formerly taught in the Departm ...

, a well-known historian, and brother of

Robert Kagan Robert Kagan (; born September 26, 1958) is an American neoconservative scholar, critic of U.S. foreign policy, and a leading advocate of liberal interventionism. A co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century, he is a ...

, another well-known writer and publicist. Kagan held an Olin Postdoctoral Fellowship in Military History at Yale in International Security Studies from 2004–2005. She is an affiliate of Harvard's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, where she was a National Security Fellow from 2002–2003.

Career

She served on the Joint Campaign Plan Assessment Team for Multi-National Force-Iraq-U.S. Mission Iraq in October 2008, and as part of the Civilian Advisory Team for the CENTCOM strategic review in January 2009. Kagan served in Kabul as a member of General

's strategic assessment team, composed of civilian experts, during his strategic review in June and July 2009. She and her husband returned to Afghanistan in the summer of 2010 to assist General

David Petraeus David Howell Petraeus (; born November 7, 1952) is a retired United States Army general and public official. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011, until his resignation on November 9, 2012. Prior to ...

with transition tasks following his assumption of command in Afghanistan. They were granted "top secret" clearance, and spent hours analyzing intercepted transmissions of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

. Their assessment that US forces should attack the

Haqqani network The Haqqani network is an Afghan Islamist group, built around the family of the same name, that has used asymmetric warfare in Afghanistan to fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s, and US-led NATO forces and the Islamic Republic of Afghanist ...

was communicated directly to field commanders in the east, creating some confusion since Petraeus did not issue this command himself. Kagan also serves on the Academic Advisory Board at the Afghanistan-

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Center of Excellence at CENTCOM. Kagan is the founder (2007) and President of the

(ISW). ISW describes itself as a "non-partisan non-profit think tank which seeks to provide research and analysis specifically regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. ISW produces comprehensive reports on the realities of war; focusing on military operations, enemy threats, and political trends in diverse conflict zones". Kagan supported the 2007 troop surge in Iraq and subsequently advocated for an expanded and restructured American military campaign in Afghanistan. On May 25, 2010, Kagan participated in a briefing on Capitol Hill focusing on Iraq's political crisis that included remarks from Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie and

Kenneth Pollack Kenneth Michael Pollack (born 1966) is an American former CIA intelligence analyst and expert on Middle East politics and military affairs. He has served on the National Security Council staff and has written several articles and books on interna ...

, Senior Fellow at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

. Kagan also participated in a Brookings Institution event entitled "Prospects for Afghanistan's Future: Assessing the Outcome of the Afghan Presidential Election" alongside Michael E. O'Hanlon. Kagan's organization, ISW, funded the creation of a 34-minute documentary, ''The Surge: the Untold Story'' with CIA Director Gen.

, ISW Chairman, U.S Army General

Jack Keane John M. "Jack" Keane (born February 1, 1943) is a retired American four-star general, a former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is a national security analyst, primarily on F ...

(ret.) and LTG James Dubik (ret.) describing the surge strategy in Iraq and how some high-ranking US officers claim to have pacified the country and thus won the war. Along with General Keane, Kagan 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.

Works

* * * Kagan has published numerous essays including "Don't Short-Circuit the Surge"; "How to Surge the Taliban"; and "Why the Taliban are Winning—For Now".

References

External links

Institute for the Study of War

The Future of Iraq: A Conversation with General Raymond T. Odierno

CENTCOM in 2010: Views from General David H. Petraeus
* *
C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Kagan, December 9, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kagan, Kimberly Jewish American historians American military historians Yale University alumni Living people 1972 births American women historians 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women