Stephen Biddle Stephen D . Biddle ( born January 19 , 1959 ) is an American author , historian , policy analyst and columnist whose work concentrates on U . S . foreign policy . He is perhaps best known for his award - winning 2004 book " Military Power : Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle " , published through Princeton University Press . He also has worked in groups under Generals Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus forming U . S . counter - insurgency policy . Background . Education and early career . Biddle was born and raised in Wilmington , Delaware , the son of Robert D . and Blanche V . Biddle . His parents frequently discussed politics , and they welcomed his input . Biddle later remarked that such debates took place " from almost as far back as I can remember " and that his father expressly encouraged him to think for himself . Biddle spent a lot of his childhood reading about military history and foreign affairs . Biddle worked in internships in Washington D . C . that involved studying U . S . defense policy , but he remained skeptical as to whether he could ( as he later put it ) " actually make a living and pay the rent and eat regularly while doing this . " Biddle earned a Bachelor ' s Degree in Fine Arts from Harvard , which had mostly involved reviewing art history , in 1981 . His first job after earning his degree was at a public policy think tank in the Washington , D . C . area that worked with the Office of the Secretary of Defense . He went on to operate 400 , 000 - line Fortran models of combat scenarios outcomes between the Warsaw Pact and NATO from 1981 to 1983 . Biddle ' s suspicions about the model ' s accuracy and about Defense Department statistical planning in general would later inspire the material in his first book , " Military Power : Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle " . Biddle earned a Master ' s Degree in 1985 and then a Doctor of Philosophy in 1992 - - both of those from Harvard and both focusing on American public policy . He later joked , " I got to know every bad restaurant in Harvard Square very well by the time I was done ! " Biddle felt particularly inspired by mentor professors Albert Carnesale and Michael Nacht , political science experts who have since moved to U . C . Berkeley . Later career . Biddle currently serves as Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University ' s Elliott School of International Affairs . He joined the faculty there in August 2012 , after serving as the Roger Hertog Senior Fellow for Defense Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations ( CFR ) , which he joined in January 2006 . He retains an affiliation with the Council as Adjunct Senior Fellow for Defense Policy . He formerly worked as an associate professor and Elihu Root chair of military studies at the U . S . Army War College ' s Strategic Studies Institute . His popular interest writings have appeared in multiple publications such as " The New York Times " , " The Washington Post " , " The Wall Street Journal " , " The Boston Globe " , " The International Herald Tribune " , and " The Guardian " . Biddle ' s career has also included research and teaching posts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , the Institute for Defense Analyses ( IDA ) , Harvard ' s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs ( BCSIA ) , and Harvard ' s Kennedy School of Government ' s Office of National Security Programs . He published " Military Power : Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle " through Princeton University Press in 2004 . The book has won multiple writing awards including CFR ' s Arthur Ross Award Silver Medal for 2005 and the 2005 Huntington Prize from the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies . Biddle received the U . S . Army Superior Civilian Service Medal in 2003 and again in 2006 . He received the U . S . Army Commander ' s Award for Public Service in 2007 as well . Within the U . S . military , he served on General Stanley McChrystal ' s Initial Strategic Assessment Team in Kabul in 2009 , on General David Petraeus ' s Joint Strategic Assessment Team in Baghdad in 2007 , and as a senior advisor to General Petraeus ' s Central Command Assessment Team in Washington in 2008 – 2009 . Beliefs . Biddle stated in 2006 that the George W . Bush administration did not do " an adequate job " of establishing a grand strategy for the war on terror with specific aims and specifically defined enemies . He criticized the administration ' s approach as " quite vague " . He called the Bush doctrine of ' rollback ' , in which the U . S . tries to end the root cause of terrorism by replacing failing in the Arab world with democracies , " a very demanding program " but a legitimate , if costly and risky , view . He also remarked in 2006 that the War in Afghanistan had progressively grown more difficult for American forces since , at first , they fought untrained , amateur Taliban - related militants . Yet later on , according to Biddle , American forces began fighting well - trained foreign agents such as al - Qaeda operatives that incorporate Western - style infantry tactics . Biddle referred to the Afghan war in mid - 2009 as " perhaps the most controversial and divisive issue in U . S . defense policy " . Biddle has argued generally about the U . S . military and its history , He has stated about U . S . power and prestige ,