Institute for the Study of War

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Institute for the Study of War
ISW Web OnClear small.png
AbbreviationISW
Formation2007; 15 years ago (2007)
TypePublic Policy think tank
Legal statusU.S. 501(c)(3) organization
Headquarters1400 16th Street NW
Location
President
Kimberly Kagan
General Jack Keane, Kimberly Kagan, former US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft, William Kristol, former US Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Kevin Mandia, Jack D. McCarthy, Jr., Bruce Mosler, General David Petraeus, Warren Phillips, and William Roberti.
Websitewww.understandingwar.org iswresearch.blogspot.com

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is a United States–based think tank founded in 2007 by Kimberly Kagan, providing research and analysis regarding issues of defense and foreign affairs. It has produced reports on the Syrian War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War, "focusing on military operations, enemy threats, and political trends in diverse conflict zones".[1][2] It has also published real-time reports on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although ISW describes itself as a non-partisan think tank, it has been closely connected to neoconservative advocacy circles, accepting donations from charity organizations including the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Bradley Foundation.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] ISW was founded in response to the 2007 stagnation of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, with core funding provided by a group of defense contractors.[3] ISW currently operates as non-profit organization, supported by contributions from defense contractors,[15] including Raytheon, General Dynamics, DynCorp and others.[4] It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.[16]

Political stance and influence[edit]

General David Petraeus speaking at an ISW event discussing progress of the Iraq War, January 2010.

The Institute for the Study of War and its President, Kimberly Kagan, were some of the first and strongest supporters of the controversial 'surge' strategy in Iraq. On May 25, 2010, Kagan participated in a briefing on Capitol Hill focusing on Iraq's political crisis that included remarks from Iraq's Ambassador Samir Sumaidaie and Kenneth Pollack, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.[17] Kagan also participated in a Brookings Institution event entitled "Prospects for Afghanistan's Future: Assessing the Outcome of the Afghan Presidential Election" alongside Michael O'Hanlon.[18] Kagan also helped produce the documentary The Surge: the Untold Story with ISW Chairman, U.S Army General Jack Keane (ret.) and LTG James Dubik (ret.) describing the battle of Iraq and how the United States won the war.[19]

ISW hosts General Raymond Odierno to discuss the future of Iraq and the 2010 Iraqi elections, February 2010

ISW President Kagan has conducted eight battlefield circulations of Iraq since starting ISW for the MNF-I Commanding General, three of which were in Afghanistan for CENTCOM United States Central Command and ISAF International Security Assistance Force. She participated formally on the Joint Campaign Plan Assessment Team for Multi-National Force – Iraq U.S. Mission – Iraq in October 2008, and as part of the Civilian Advisory Team for the CENTCOM strategic review in January 2009.[20] Kagan served in Kabul as a member of General Stanley McChrystal's strategic assessment team, composed of civilian experts, during his strategic review in June and July 2009. She returned to Afghanistan in the summer of 2010 to assist General David Petraeus with key transition tasks following his assumption of command in Afghanistan. Kagan also serves on the Academic Advisory Board at the Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence at CENTCOM

ISW has criticized both the Obama and Trump administration policies to the Syrian conflict, advocating for a more hawkish approach. In 2013, ISW founder and president Kimberly Kagan called for arms and equipment to be supplied to "moderate" rebels, with the hope that a state "friendly to the United States [would emerge] in the wake of Assad."[21] In 2017, ISW analyst Christopher Kozak praised president Donald Trump for the Shayrat missile strike but advocated further attacks, stating that "deterrence is a persistent condition, not a one hour strike package."[22] In 2018, ISW analyst Jennifer Cafarella published an article calling for the use of offensive military force against the Assad government.[23]

ISW Board[edit]

General Jack Keane, Kimberly Kagan, former US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft, William Kristol, former US Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Kevin Mandia, Jack D. McCarthy, Jr., Bruce Mosler, General David Petraeus, Warren Phillips, and William Roberti.[9]

ISW Corporate Council[edit]

Previous and current members of the ISW's corporate council include, Raytheon, Microsoft, Palantir, General Motors, General Dynamics, and Kirkland & Ellis.[24][25][26]

Research[edit]

ISW research is divided into three main categories: the Iraq Project, the Afghanistan Project, and the Middle East Security Project.

Afghanistan Project[edit]

The ISW's Afghanistan Project monitors and analyzes the effectiveness of Afghan and Coalition operations to disrupt enemy networks and secure the population, while also evaluating the results of Afghanistan’s 2010 Presidential election.[27]

The Afghanistan Project remains focused on the main enemy groups in Afghanistan, specifically: the Quetta Shura Taliban, the Haqqani network, and Hizb-i Islami Gulbuddin.[27] Specific attention is paid to understanding the ethnic, tribal, and political dynamics within these areas and how these factors are manipulated by the enemy and misunderstood by the Coalition.

In 2010, ISW researchers testified before the United States Congress in regards to understanding the problems of corruption and use of local powerbrokers in ISAF’s Afghanistan strategy.[28]

Iraq Project[edit]

Kimberly Kagan in Iraq, 2008

The Iraq Project at the ISW produces fully documented reports that monitor and analyze the changing security and political dynamics within Iraq.

The Surge: The Untold Story[edit]

ISW president Kagan was noted for her support of "the Surge" strategy in Iraq and argued for a restructured American military strategy more generally. The Surge: The Untold Story, co-produced by ISW provides a historical account of U.S. military operations in Iraq during the Surge of forces during 2007 and 2008. As a documentary, it offers audiences a look into the story of the Surge in Iraq, as told by U.S. military commanders and diplomats as well as Iraqis.[29]

The video documented the Iraq Surge as part of a population-centric counterinsurgency approach and features many of the top commanders and others responsible for its implementation—including Gen. Jack Keane (Ret.), Gen. David Petraeus, Amb. Ryan Crocker, Gen. Raymond Odierno, Gen. Nasier Abadi (Iraq), Col. Peter Mansoor (Ret.), Col. J.B. Burton, Col. Ricky Gibbs, Col. Bryan Roberts, Col. Sean MacFarland, Col. James Hickey, Col. David Sutherland, Col. Steven Townsend, Lt.-Col. James Crider, and Lt. James Danly (Ret.) [30]

The Surge: The Untold Story was nominated for several awards and in 2010 was a winner of a Special Jury Award at the WorldFest film festival in Houston.[31] It also won honors as the best documentary part of the Military Channel's Documentary Series at the GI Film Festival in Washington, D.C.[32]

Iraq in 2011[edit]

Since the end of military operations in Iraq and after a general withdrawal of US forces there, ISW now focuses its research on the security and political dynamic now taking place there.

Middle East Security Project[edit]

The Institute for the Study of War launched its Middle East Security Project in November 2011. The project seeks: to study the national security challenges and opportunities emerging from the Persian Gulf and wider Arab World; to identify ways the United States and Gulf States can check Iran’s growing influence and contain the threat posed by its nuclear ambitions; to explain the shifting balance of power within the Middle East caused by recent upheaval, and assess the responses of the United States and Arab States to address these changes as they emerge. The Project currently is focused on Syria and Iran and also produced a series of reports during the Libyan Revolution.

Syria[edit]

ISW has chronicled the resistance to President Bashar al-Assad through a number of reports including:

  • The Struggle for Syria in 2011
  • Syria's Armed Opposition
  • Syria's Political Opposition, authored by senior analyst Elizabeth O'Bagy, who was later fired for job fraud
  • Syria's Maturing Insurgency[citation needed]

Libya[edit]

ISW released four reports on the conflict that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi between September 19, 2011 and December 6, 2011. The series was entitled "The Libyan Revolution" with each of the four parts focused on different stages in the struggle in order to chronicle the revolution from start to finish.

Iran[edit]

The Middle East Security Project has released reports on the status of the Iranian military as well as the influence that Iran has on its neighbors in the region. These reports include "Iran's Two Navies" and "Iranian Influence in the Levant, Egypt, Iraq, and Afghanistan" which was co-written with the American Enterprise Institute.

Reception[edit]

Some critics have described ISW as "a hawkish Washington" group[33] favoring an "aggressive foreign policy".[15]

In 2013 a senior analyst at the Institute, Elizabeth O'Bagy, was fired after it was revealed she did not have the doctorate from Georgetown University she had claimed and had obfuscated an affiliation with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a U.S.-based group advocating the armed overthrow of the government of Syria. The dramatic termination generated national and international headlines after O'Bagy's research for the Institute was cited in a U.S. Senate hearing on possible U.S. military intervention into Syria.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "About Us". Institute for the Study of War. December 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  2. ^ "Kim Kagan". Militarist Monitor. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Urrutia, Olivier (September 2013). "The Role of Think Tanks in the Definition and Application of Defence Policies and Strategies" (PDF). Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos. 2: 26–27 – via Revista del IEEE.
  4. ^ a b "Our Supporters". Institute for the Study of War.
  5. ^ a b Newton-Small, Jay (September 17, 2013). "The Rise and Fall of Elizabeth O'Bagy". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  6. ^ Chandrasekaran, Rajiv (December 18, 2012). "Civilian analysts gained Petraeus's ear while he was commander in Afghanistan". 2022-03-22. Retrieved March 22, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "Kim Kagan". Militarist Monitor. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  8. ^ "Right Web ISW Financing" (PDF). Militarist Monitor. November 1, 2011. Retrieved March 22, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ a b "Who We Are". Institute for the Study of War.
  10. ^ Carden, James (December 15, 2021). "Neocons bent on starting another disaster in Ukraine". Asia Times. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  11. ^ McCartney, James McCartney, Molly Sinclair (November 2, 2015). "The military-industrial-propaganda complex: The neo-con think tanks that drive policy and send us to war". Salon. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  12. ^ Walt, Stephen M. "Being a Neocon Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry". Foreign Policy. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  13. ^ Wright, Robert (March 17, 2018). "How The New York Times Is Making War With Iran More Likely". The Intercept. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  14. ^ "The Forever Wars of Frederick & Kimberly Kagan". The American Conservative. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  15. ^ a b Civilian analysts gained Petraeus’s ear while he was commander in Afghanistan, By Rajiv Chandrasekaran, The Washington Post, December 19, 2012
  16. ^ "About". Right Web. June 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
  17. ^ "Iraq's Political Crisis with Kimberly Kagan and Samir Sumaidaie". Institute for the Study of War. May 25, 2010. Archived from the original on December 2, 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
  18. ^ "Prospects for Afghanistan's Future: Assessing the Outcome of the Afghan Presidential Election". Brookings Institution. August 25, 2009. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved November 11, 2010.
  19. ^ ""The Surge: the Untold Story" (never-before-seen interviews)". Institute for the Study of War. November 9, 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  20. ^ "Staff Bios". Institute for the Study of War. November 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
  21. ^ "The Smart and Right Thing in Syria". Hoover Institution. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  22. ^ "Institute for the Study of War". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  23. ^ Cafarella, Jennifer (February 22, 2018). "US passivity in the face of Syrian atrocities is hurting our global interests". Fox News. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  24. ^ "Our Supporters | Institute for the Study of War". web.archive.org. December 19, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  25. ^ "Institute for the Study of War". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  26. ^ "Our Supporters | Institute for the Study of War". web.archive.org. April 1, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  27. ^ a b "Afghanistan Project". Institute for the Study of War. November 2010. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  28. ^ "Testimony". CSPAN. June 22, 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  29. ^ "'The Surge: the Untold Story' (never-before-seen interviews)". ISW. October 28, 2009. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
  30. ^ "The Surge: The Untold Story". Small Wars Journal. November 2009. Retrieved January 12, 2010.
  31. ^ "World Fest". WorldFest. June 2010. Archived from the original on February 25, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2009.
  32. ^ "GI Film Festival". GI Film Fest. May 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2010.[permanent dead link]
  33. ^ Newton-Small, Jay. "The Rise and Fall of Elizabeth O'Bagy". Time.

External links[edit]

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