Frederick Kagan | |
|---|---|
 Frederick and Kimberly Kagan touring Basra in 2008. | |
| Alma mater | Yale University (BA,PhD) |
| Occupation | Resident Scholar |
| Employer | American Enterprise Institute |
| Spouse | Kimberly Kagan |
| Parent | Donald Kagan |
| Relatives | Robert Kagan, brother |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | Reform for survival: Russian military policy and conservative reform, 1825-1836 (1995) |
| Doctoral advisor | Paul Kennedy |
Frederick W. Kagan (born 1970) is an American residentscholar at theAmerican Enterprise Institute (AEI) and a formerprofessor ofmilitary history at theU.S. Military Academy atWest Point.
He and his father,Donald Kagan, who was a professor atYale and a fellow at theHudson Institute, co-authoredWhile America Sleeps: Self-Delusion, Military Weakness, and the Threat to Peace Today (2000). The book argued in favor of a large increase in military spending and warned of future threats, including from a potential revival ofIraq'sweapons of mass destruction program.[1] Frederick andRobert Kagan, who is a member of theAspen Strategy Group, and their father, Donald, were all signatories to theProject for the New American Century manifesto,Rebuilding America's Defenses (2000).[2]
Kagan authored the "real Iraq Study Group" report as the American Enterprise Institute's rival to theIraq Study Group report ofJames Baker andLee H. Hamilton in December 2006. The AEI report,Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq, was released on January 5, 2007, and Kagan was said to have won over the ear of PresidentGeorge W. Bush,[3] strongly influencing his subsequent"surge" plan for changing the course of theIraq War. Along with retired GeneralJack Keane, retired Colonel Joel Armstrong, and retired Major Daniel Dwyer, Kagan is credited as one of the "intellectual architects" of the surge plan.[4] According toForeign Policy magazine, Kagan's essay "We're Not the Soviets in Afghanistan" influenced the strategic thinking ofUS Defense SecretaryRobert Gates, which reportedly influenced Gates's decision to support sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.[5]
Reflecting on the surge in 2015, Kagan said that while the AEI group convened that "it never occurred to me or anybody that was involved in this that we were going to affect policy. It was simply 'Maybe we can put some concrete numbers on the table, some concrete enemy on a map, some concrete units on a grid, and force other people who want to have this discussion to wrestle with the specifics of the problem.'"[6]
In 2010, U.S. Army GeneralDavid H. Petraeus, who was appointed by PresidentBarack Obama to head international forces inAfghanistan, hired Kagan as one of two experts on fighting corruption.[7] An article inThe Washington Post on December 19, 2012, discussed the relationship that the Kagans had with General Petraeus and, to a much lesser extent, with his successor in July 2011, GeneralJohn R. Allen. It discussed various visits made by the Kagans from mid-2010, including their having been given access to the Combined Joint Intelligence Operations Center in Petraeus's headquarters. It commented on and raised questions about their sponsorship by defense contractors through theAmerican Enterprise Institute. It also detailed how the Kagans had become involved in Iraq in 2007 under an initiative by GeneralStanley A. McChrystal, who was their first introduction to Afghanistan in 2010.[8]
Kagan has regularly contributed to daily reports by theInstitute for the Study of War (ISW) on the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[9] The ISW was founded by his wife,Kimberly Kagan.
"China has three roads to Taiwan: The US must block them all",The Hill, March 13, 2023 (co-authored withDan Blumenthal)[10]
