Ilan Berman

Last updated
Ilan I. Berman
Born (1975-12-23) December 23, 1975 (age 49)
Education Brandeis University (BA)
American University (MA, JD)
Occupation(s)Lawyer, policy analyst
Known forMiddle East and Iran analysis
Notable work Winning the Long War: Retaking the Offensive Against Radical Islam (2009); Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States ( 2005)

Ilan I. Berman (born December 23, 1975) is an American lawyer and policy analyst. He is the Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council. [1] He focuses on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation. [1]

Contents

Education

Berman has a BA in Politics from Brandeis University, an MA in International Politics from American University, and a JD from Washington College of Law. [2]

Career

Berman is adjunct professor for International Law and Global Security at the National Defense University, and a member of the Associated Faculty at Missouri State University's Department of Defense and Strategic Studies. [1] He also serves as a member of the Committee on the Present Danger, writes a monthly column for Forbes.com , and is an Editor of The Journal of International Security Affairs . [1] [3] He has also advised the United States Department of Defense, agencies of the U.S. government including the CIA, and offices of congressmen on matters of foreign policy and national security. [1] [4] [5]

Views

In November 2002, Al Ahram Weekly quoted him as remarking with regard to the U.S.'s targeted killing of al-Qaeda terrorists in Yemen,

It is too early to tell whether this event alone will precipitate a shift toward explicit support of such tactics as employed by Israel on Washington's part. What does seem clear, however, is that the United States and Israel are gravitating toward increasingly similar perceptions, and possibly strategies, in the war on terrorism. [6]

He wrote in his 2005 book Tehran Rising: Iran's Challenge to the United States and has said in speeches that in displacing Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq which had been an enemy of Iran, and the Taliban in Afghanistan which had been a rival, the United States had unintentionally taken away two significant checks on the power of Iran in the Middle East. [7] [8] [9] [10]

In August 2006 he noted that to that point in time, the U.S. had had a lot of difficulty in convincing especially Russia and China, to support sanctions on Iran for its moving forward with its uranium enrichment program, and that "both Moscow and Beijing are major strategic partners of the Islamic republic and have a vested interest in protecting their investments in the Iranian regime." [11] In July 2008 he observed: ""The Iranians are playing a colossal game of chicken with us," and asked: "Does the international community have the will to take the short-term pain and disarm these guys, or accept the long-term pain of a region completely dominated by this regime? I think the world community has essentially come to grips with the fact that Iran is going to go nuclear." [12]

In October 2009, Berman noted: "The Iranian strategy has been pretty consistent all along; to keep the West talking while they work on their nuclear program." [13] In March 2010, commenting on Iran's warning to Europe not to sanction it, he observed:

The Iranians have a pattern of warning anyone threatening to get tough with them, basically saying, 'Don't do this, because there will be consequences. What's notable here is that they are singling out Europe. It's a sure sign Europe is being more activist [about curtailing economic ties to Iran] than it normally is." [14]

Lou Dobbs of CNN in 2008 described him as "one of the [U.S.]'s leading experts on the Middle East and Iran." [15]

In May 2020, Berman, a critic of the Iranian government, confirmed that several people had been contacted by hackers by e-mail using a fake e-mail address for him. Hackers, impersonating Berman, had contacted the World Health Organization (WHO) requesting an interview and sending a link to interview questions which linked to a malicious domain. The Cyberattack was thought to be from a group of state-sponsored Iranian hackers who were known to have targeted Iranian Dissidents, academics, journalists and Human rights defender in the past. [16]

In August 2020, Berman was quoted by The Christian Science Monitor as an "expert in Middle East security" when he commented on the developments of world politics with regards to the Iran nuclear deal framework. The American high-pressure program and especially the secondary sanctions, which punished foreign companies doing business with Iran, had been deeply counter-effective to European aims. In order to keep their economy going the Iranians had been pushed into the arms of China, who had been looking to increase their influence in the Middle East. Berman said, that if a deal, as it was described, was reached then this would lead to "a huge erosion of Iranian sovereignty and acknowledgment by the Iranians that the current economic situation has them in truly dire straits that can't keep going much longer," and that the regime may have decided they would rather remain in "charge of half the country than losing the whole thing." [17]

In August 2020, Berman warned that providing loans to Iran would be a mistake as it would have an adverse effect on negotiations with Iran. [18]

On 4 September 2020 Berman was a speaker of the Middle East Forum. He pointed out the considerable changes of China's foreign policy from his predecessor Deng Xiaoping's low-profile and unassuming foreign policy to Xi Jinping's developing hardline power struggle between China and the United States which included a drive "to supplant the United States as the dominant strategic power in the Middle East." Berman also highlighted the security concerns regarding China's investment in Israel's high-tech sectors and its efforts "to become the single largest nation-state investor in the Jewish state in the next several years, eclipsing the United States." Furthermore, Berman pointed out that "China is slowly ... exporting its system of social control" to authoritarian and repressive regimes to "effectively monitor and surveil" their populations. [19]

Works

Books

Select articles

Statement before Congress

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "American Foreign Policy Council – Experts » Ilan I. Berman". Afpc.org. Archived from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Welcome to CISA". Ndu.edu. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Columnists". Forbes.com. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  4. ↑ "The Arena: – Ilan Berman Bio". Politico. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Forbes » Contributor Profile » Ilan Berman". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 21, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  6. ↑ Nyier Abdou (November 20, 2002). "Region | Death by Predator". Al-Ahram Weekly. Archived from the original on January 23, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Iran flaunts options on striking back at West". Tmcnet.com. April 27, 2006. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  8. ↑ Paul Owens (October 2, 2005). "A Dire Threat; Author details the dangers Iran poses, including its nuclear program and how it finances terror with oil". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  9. ↑ Alexis Fabbri (November 21, 2005). "Focus on Iraq helps Iran". UPI Security & Terrorism. Retrieved November 17, 2011.[ dead link ]
  10. ↑ John Hall (October 2, 2005). "War in Iraq has Opened Door for Iran". Indiana Gazette. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  11. ↑ Stannard, Matthew B. (August 27, 2006). "U.N. unlikely to punish Iran – experts / Some say even light sanctions wrong way to curb nuclear drive". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  12. ↑ Ward, Olivia (July 22, 2008). "Iran talks 'colossal game of chicken'". The Toronto Star. Toronto. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  13. ↑ Jonathan Tirone and Ali Sheikholeslami (October 29, 2009). "Iran Reply to UN Fuel Plan Falls Short of Acceptance (Update1)". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  14. ↑ Howard LaFranchi (March 1, 2010). "Nuclear weapons worries: Is threat of Iran sanctions making Tehran testy with Europe?". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  15. ↑ "CNN.com – Transcripts". CNN. December 17, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  16. ↑ Gallagher, Ryan (7 May 2020). "Hackers Target WHO by Posing as Think Tank, Broadcaster". Claims Journal. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  17. ↑ LaFranchi, Howard (7 August 2020). "How 'success' of a tough US policy on Iran has benefited China". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  18. ↑ Lipin, Michael (28 August 2019). "Trump Talks Up Credit Line for Iran, But No Sign of Imminent Policy Change". Voice of America. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  19. ↑ Stern, Marilyn (8 November 2020). "Ilan Berman on China's Disruption of the Middle East". Middle East Forum. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  20. ↑ Berman, Ilan (17 February 2021). "Joe Biden's Secret Weapon for Resetting Iran Policy". Politico. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  21. ↑ Berman, Ilan. "What will Joe Biden do about the Iran-al-Qaida connection?". USA Today. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  22. ↑ Berman, Ilan (27 August 2019). "The Israeli-Iranian cold war heats up". The Hill. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
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