Speaker Biographies

July 27, 2005

Colonel Joseph Anderson became the executive officer to the secretary of the army in February 2005 after serving as the Division chief of staff from July 2004 to January 2005. Colonel Anderson has played a vital role in Operation Iraqi Freedom, leading efforts at the battles of Kifl, South Al Hillah, An Najef, Karbala, Baghdad, and Mosul. Prior to his service in Iraq, Colonel Anderson commanded the 2d Brigade and 502d Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Kentucky, from July 2002 to July 2004. Furthermore, during Operation Joint Guardian in 1999, Colonel Anderson led the first U.S. ground forces into Kosovo as the 2-505th Task Force Commander. Colonel Anderson’s military decorations include the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with Arrowhead; NATO Medal with bronze service star; Kosovo Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars; Army Forces Service Medal; and the GWOT Service and Expeditionary Medal. 

Thomas Donnelly is a resident fellow in defense and security policy studies at AEI. He is the author of The Military We Need: The Defense Requirements of the Bush Doctrine (AEI Press, 2005), Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic Assessment (AEI Press, 2004), and AEI’s monthly National Security Outlook. In February 2005, he was appointed by Senator Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to a two-year term on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Before coming to AEI, he served as the director of strategic communications and initiatives at Lockheed Martin and as deputy executive director of the Project for the New American Century. From 1995 to 1999, he was the policy group director, as well as a professional staff member, for the Committee on National Security (now the Committee on Armed Services) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Donnelly has also been the executive director of The National Interest, editor of the Army Times, and deputy editor of Defense News.

Joost Hiltermann is the Middle East project director at the International Crisis Group, an organization which conducts research in Middle Eastern countries and writes policy-focused reports on the factors that increase the risk of and drive armed conflict. His work focuses on the political transition, the constitutional process, and the role of the Kurds in Iraq. Previously he was executive director of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch, director of the Iraq Documents Project, and the research director of Al-Haq in Ramallah. Mr. Hiltermann frequently interviews with major media outlets, including BBC, CNN, the New York Times, and the Financial Times.

Frederick W. Kagan joined AEI in May 2005 as a resident scholar in defense and security policy studies. Previously he was an associate professor of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is the coauthor of While America Sleeps: Self-Delusion, Military Weakness, and the Threat to Peace Today (St. Martin’s Press, 2000), as well as the author of numerous articles on defense and foreign policy issues in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Weekly Standard, Policy Review, Commentary, Parameters, and elsewhere. Mr. Kagan will release his new book Finding the Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy in 2006.

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at AEI and editor of the Middle East Quarterly. Between 2002 and 2004, Mr. Rubin worked as a staff advisor for Iran and Iraq in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, in which capacity he was seconded to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He has previously worked as a lecturer in history at Yale University, Hebrew University, and at three different universities in northern Iraq. Mr. Rubin is the author (with Patrick Clawson) of Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave, forthcoming November 2005), and of Into the Shadows: Radical Vigilantes in Khatami's Iran (2001).

Lieutenant General John Sattler has served as commander of the First Marine Expeditionary Force since September 12, 2004. Prior to holding this position, Lieutenant General Sattler served as director of Operations, U.S. Central Command and commander, Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa. He has also held the position of the commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, since July 2001. Lieutenant General Sattler has held additional positions of leadership, particularly assuming duties as the director of the Public Affairs Division at Marine Headquarters in June 2000 and as deputy director for Operations (Combating Terrorism) J-34. Lieutenant General Sattler’s military decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with gold star, Meritorious Service Medal with gold star, and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.

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