Ilan I. Berman

Ilan Berman is Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. An expert on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as well as the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, and has also provided assistance on foreign policy and national security issues to a range of governmental agencies and congressional offices. He has been called one of America’s “leading experts on the Middle East and Iran” by CNN.

Mr. Berman is a member of the Associated Faculty at Missouri State University’s Department of Defense and Strategic Studies. A frequent writer and commentator, he has written for the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post and USA Today, among many other publications.

Mr. Berman is the editor of six books: Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), co-edited with J. Michael Waller; Taking on Tehran: Strategies for Confronting the Islamic Republic (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007); Iran’s Strategic Penetration of Latin America (Lexington Books, 2015), co-edited with Joseph Humire; The Logic of Irregular War: Asymmetry and America’s Adversaries (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017); Digital Dictators: Media, Authoritarianism, and America’s New Challenge (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018); and, most recently, Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).

He is also the author of six others: Tehran Rising: Iran’s Challenge to the United States (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), Winning the Long War: Retaking the Offensive Against Radical Islam (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), Implosion: The End of Russia and What It Means for America (Regnery Publishing, 2013); Iran’s Deadly Ambition: The Islamic Republic’s Quest for Global Power (Encounter Books, 2015); The Fight for Iran: Opposition Politics, Protest, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Nation (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020) and, most recently, Challenging Moscow’s Message: Russian Disinformation and the Western Response (AFPC Press, 2023). 

Berman was appointed to serve as a Member of the RFE/RL Board of Directors on February 10, 2025.