Bruce Riedel

Bruce Riedel is a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. A career CIA officer, he has advised four presidents on Middle East and South Asian issues in the White House on the staff of the NSC. He is author of The Search for Al-Qaeda (Brookings Institution Press, 2008) and Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America and the Future of the Global Jihad (Brookings Institution Press, 2011).

Essays

Security

Lessons of the Syrian Reactor

| 05.01.13

The intelligence failures of Iraq seriously constrained policy makers in other areas.

Society

JFK's Overshadowed Crisis

| 06.28.12

In October 1962, Kennedy confronted both the Cuban missile crisis and a war between China and India. Though Cuba got more attention then and now, that Asian crisis still holds valuable diplomatic lessons.

Security

Brezhnev in the Hejaz

| 08.24.11

Saudi Arabia is the guardian of the Mideast counterrevolution—and America is its greatest enabler. A club of royals under the Kingdom’s protection is now a reality.

Global Governance

If Israel Attacks

| 08.24.10

As things stand, if Iran continues on its path toward obtaining the bomb, Israel will strike, and the consequences would be disastrous for the entire world. Here's how America can convince Israel to live with a nuclear Iran.

Security

Armageddon in Islamabad

| 06.23.09

Don’t be fooled by the recent positive news from Islamabad. We face the potential of a nuclear-armed state run by Islamic extremists. The consequences of a Taliban-led takeover of Islamabad would be devastating.