Author Archive

Mara E. Karlin

Director of Strategic Studies, SAIS

Mara Karlin is Director of Strategic Studies and Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her most recent position in the U.S. Defense Department was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development.
Ideas

Three Urgent Questions for the Air Force’s New Chief of Staff

The service has too long delayed the hard choices that would prepare it to deter China.

  • Mara E. Karlin and Jim Mitre
Ideas

Two Cheers for Esper’s Plan to Reassert Civilian Control of the Pentagon

One might believe that leaving more decisions to uniformed experts would depoliticize policy. The opposite is true.

  • Loren DeJonge Schulman, Alice Hunt Friend and Mara E. Karlin
Ideas

Toward A Smaller, Smarter Force Posture in the Middle East

The National Defense Strategy’s turn toward Russia and China requires the U.S. military to alter its Gulf assets.

  • Melissa G. Dalton and Mara E. Karlin
Ideas

Before You Help a Fragile State’s Military, Ask These Uncomfortable Questions

A checklist for a Pentagon that rarely looks into why so many of its partner-building efforts fail.

  • Mara E. Karlin
Ideas

How Should the Pentagon Reshape Its Mideast Posture? Four Indicators to Watch

A tour of possible scenarios reveals what U.S. policymakers ought to be focused on as they chart the future of regional force posture.

  • Melissa G. Dalton and Mara E. Karlin
Ideas

Bridging America's Civil-Military Gap — At Sea

As a former senior defense official, I wanted to help my undergraduate students learn about the military. Fortunately, so did several of my veteran shipmates.

  • Mara E. Karlin
Ideas

Ending the Iran Deal is An Invitation to War

Two former Pentagon officials game out the dangerous consequences of de-certifying the agreement.

  • Ilan Goldenberg and Mara E. Karlin, The Atlantic
Ideas

As Independence Vote Nears, Iraqi Kurds Play a Risky Game of Chicken

Kurdistan’s president called the referendum to extract concessions from Baghdad. What if it doesn’t work?

  • Jon B. Alterman and Mara E. Karlin
Ideas

It’s Long Past Time to Rethink US Military Posture in the Gulf

The rift between Qatar and other Gulf nations should prompt a long-overdue review of what the Pentagon keeps in the region, and where.

  • Mara E. Karlin and Melissa G. Dalton
Featured eBooks
Future of the Army
The Future of the Air Force
Special Operations Technology 2020