The Program: “The Middle East and US Policy: A Status Report on On-Going Conflicts” As we look at the Middle East today, we witness a horrific war in Yemen, civil wars and ethnic and sectarian strife in Syria and elsewhere, and popular unrest in Iran and other countries. The threat of war in the Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran and in the Levant involving Israel, Hizbollah and Syria is higher than than at any time in the past decade. Tension is also rising between Israel and the Palestinians over Israel’s continued occupation, the status of Jerusalem, and the envisioned two-state solution. The lecture will offer a status report on the latest developments in the region and the diminishing role of American diplomacy and the ensuing vacuum. How all of these developments in the post-ISIS will impact US national security will also be examined.

Presenter: Dr. Emile A. Nakhleh is a retired Senior Intelligence Service Officer (SIS-3), a Research Professor and Director of the Global and National Security Policy Institute at the University of New Mexico, a National Intelligence Council/IC Associate, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Since retiring from the US Government in 2006, he has consulted on national security issues, particularly Islamic radicalization, terrorism, and the Arab states of the Middle East. He has published frequently on the “Arab Spring” in the Financial Times, the LobeLog blog, and The Cipher Brief. At CIA, he was a senior analyst and director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program and of Regional Analysis in the Middle East. Fluency in Arabic: 5,5,5. He was awarded several senior commendations and distinguished medals for his service, including the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal and the Director’s Medal.

Prior to his government service, Dr. Nakhleh was a Professor of Political Science and International Studies and a Department Chair at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland. His research and publications have focused on political Islam and Muslim world engagement, Islamic radicalization and terrorism in the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world; governance in the greater Middle East; and US policy toward the Middle East and the Muslim world. He holds a Ph.D. from the American University, Washington, D.C., in International Relations, an M.A. from Georgetown University in Political Science, and a B.A. from Saint John’s University, Minnesota, in Political Science.

He is the author of numerous academic books and scholarly articles including A Necessary Engagement: Reinventing America’s Relations with the Muslim World (Princeton University Press, 2009); Bahrain: Political Development in a Modernizing Society (Lexington Books, 2011; originally published in 1976 and translated into Arabic in 2006); “Intelligence Sharing and Co-operation: Opportunities and Pitfalls,” in Steve Tsang, ed., Combating Transnational Terrorism: Searching for a New Paradigm (Praeger, 2009); and “Moderates Redefined: How to Deal with Political Islam” and “Propaganda and Power in the Middle East,” Current History (December 2009 and 2013). Dr. Nakhleh’s previous publications include: The Gulf Cooperation Council: Policies, Problems, and Prospects (Praeger, 1986); The Persian Gulf and American Policy (Praeger, 1982); Arab-American Relations in the Persian Gulf (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1975); and The West Bank and Gaza: Toward the Making of a Palestinian State (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1975). In 2009 Dr. Nakhleh served on The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Task Force on “Religion and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy” and participated in the writing of the Task Force report titled Engaging Religious Communities Abroad: A New Imperative for U.S. Foreign Policy (The Chicago Council, 2010).

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