“How to fight ISIS” is now unquestionably a major concern of the United States Government; and Americans, in general, continue to be uncertain about the extent and duration of the challenge of Islamist extremism.  We are fortunate to be joined for a discussion of these matters by Dr. Frederick Kagan who has given them much thought and written extensively about them.

Dr. Kagan received his B.A. degree in Soviet and Eastern European Studies from Yale, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard, and a Ph.D. in Russian and Soviet military history from American University.  He taught the history of military art, grand strategy, revolutionary warfare, and diplomatic history for a decade at the United States Military Academy.

Presently, he is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he heads its Critical Threats Project.  He has long been an advocate of rebuilding American defense.  He was an influential advocate of the “surge” in Iraq.  Among his several books, this one edited with Thomas Donnelly, is Lessons for a Long War: How America Can Win on New Battlefields.  He has written extensively on Syria and Iraq, and in 2014 on ISIS, including his article on “U.S. Strategy Against the Islamic State”.