Samuel Brannen
Sam Brannen is a fellow with the CSIS International Security Program, where he works on projects related to defense strategy and policy, Middle East security (especially U.S.-Turkey and U.S.-Turkey-Iraq issues), and U.S. national security reform. He is a frequent media commentator and has appeared on CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, and NPR. During the summer of 2007, he served as a staff member for the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, chaired by General (Ret.) James L. Jones. He traveled to Iraq in July 2007 and assisted commissioners in the drafting of the report, submitted to Congress in September 2007. Previously, Brannen was a policy planner in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, with portfolios including maritime security and the future security environment with a focus on energy and climate change. In May 2007, he was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service. Prior to his time in government, he was assistant director of the CSIS Global Strategy Institute, where he supported the Seven Revolutions project and was responsible for overseeing research on long-range global trends. While at the Institute, he was also the lead researcher on a 2004–2005 initiative to provide the U.S. government with solutions to long-term governance challenges in Afghanistan, where he traveled widely as part of a CSIS fact-finding mission. He began his tenure at CSIS in 2002 as a research intern with the Turkey Project.

Education

  • B.A. in political science from Trinity University
  • M.A. from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University
  • He also studied as a graduate student at the Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey.

    • Research Interests

  • Nation-state formation and stabilization
  • U.S. and foreign civil-military relations.
    • USAKPedia is an USAK Publication. USAK (International Strategic Research Organization) is an Ankara-based Turkish think-tank.