He writes on various topics, including international affairs, contemporary politics and issues at the nexus of law and policy. His commentary has appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and The Daily Star (Beirut) among others. Ian is a graduate of The George Washington University Law School, and holds an M.A. in Comparative Politics from Northeastern University and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ian served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Spanish and Albanian cryptologic linguist and is a graduate of the Defense Language Institute.