Prior to coming to AEI, he helped found and served as executive director of the Project for the New American Century, a Washington-based foreign and defense policy think tank.  While in government, Dr. Schmitt served on the professional staff of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1981-1984 and served as Minority Staff Director of the Senate Committee from 1982-84.  Then, from 1984-88, he worked in the Executive Office of the President, serving as executive director of President Reagan’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

After leaving government, Dr. Schmitt held fellowships at the National Interest, Brookings, and the National Strategy Information Center.  In the latter capacity, he led a program on intelligence reform for the Center’s Consortium on the Study of Intelligence. He co-authored, with Abram N. Shulsky, the Consortium’s monograph The Future of US Intelligence (1996).  In addition, Dr. Schmitt was a consultant to the Department of Defense from 1992-1993, and has taught courses on intelligence and national security at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University. Before coming to Washington, Dr. Schmitt was a member of the University of Virginia faculty from 1977-1979, working as a research associate at the White Burkett Miller Center’s “Program on the American Presidency.” 

Publications and Media:

Dr. Schmitt is the co-author, with Abram N. Shulsky, of Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence (Washington: Brassey’s, 2002).  Silent Warfare is now in its third edition and is widely accepted as the leading textbook on intelligence in the United States.  With Thomas Donnelly, he is co-editor of, and contributor to, Of Men and Materiel: the Crisis in Military Resources (AEI Press, 2007). In addition, Dr. Schmitt is the co-editor, with Roy Godson and Ernest R. May, and contributor to, U.S. Intelligence at the Crossroads: Agendas for Reform (Washington: Brassey’s, 1995). 

Dr. Schmitt’s other publications include articles on the American founding, the U.S. presidency, the American political system, and national security affairs.  He is also co-author of What Does "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" Mean? (1998), a monograph of the Henry Salvatori Center of Claremont McKenna College, with Joseph M. Bessette.  His writings have appeared in numerous scholarly journals, as well as, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Financial Times, Defense News and the Weekly Standard.  He has appeared on numerous American and foreign television and radio programs, including ABC, C-Span, BBC, TV-5 (France), MSNBC, Fox News, NPR and CBS.

Education:

Dr. Schmitt is a graduate of the University of Dallas (BA/1974) and the University of Chicago (PhD/1980).