Speaker biographies

Stephen J. Blank is the Strategic Studies Institute's expert on the Soviet bloc and the post-Soviet world, where he has served since 1989. Mr. Blank's current research focuses on proliferation, the revolution in military affairs, and energy and security in Eurasia. Previously, he was an associate professor of Soviet studies at the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education, Maxwell Air Force Base. He has also taught at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and at the University of California, Riverside. His two most recent books are Russo-Chinese Energy Relations: Politics in Command (GMB Publishing ,2006) and Natural Allies?: Regional Security in Asia and Prospects for Indo-American Strategic Cooperation (Strategic Studies Institute, 2005). Mr. Blank is the editor of Imperial Decline: Russia's Changing Position in Asia (Duke University Press, 1997), coeditor of The Soviet Military and the Future (Greenwood Press, 1992), and author of The Sorcerer as Apprentice: Stalin's Commissariat of Nationalities, 1917-1924 (Greenwood Press, 1994). He has also written many articles and conference papers on Russian, Commonwealth of Independent States, and Eastern European security issues.

Thomas Donnelly is a resident fellow in defense and security policy studies at AEI. He is the author, with Frederick W. Kagan, of Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. Land Power (AEI Press, May 2008); the coeditor, with Gary J. Schmitt, of Of Men and Materiel: The Crisis in Military Resources (AEI Press, 2007); and the author of The Military We Need (AEI Press, 2005), Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic Assessment (AEI Press, 2004), and several other books. From 1995 to 1999, he was policy group director and a professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee. Mr. Donnelly also served as a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is a former editor of Armed Forces Journal, Army Times, and Defense News.

Frederick W. Kagan is a resident scholar in defense and security policy studies at AEI. His most recent book is Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. Land Power (AEI Press, May 2008), coauthored with Thomas Donnelly. Previously an associate professor of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he is the author of Finding the Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy (Encounter Books, 2006) and The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe, 1801–1805 (Da Capo, 2006) and coauthor of While America Sleeps: Self-Delusion, Military Weakness, and the Threat to Peace Today (St. Martin’s Press, 2000). A contributing editor at The Weekly Standard, Mr. Kagan has also written numerous articles on defense and foreign policy issues for Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Policy Review, Commentary, Parameters, and other periodicals.

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