HOME ABOUT EVENTS PROGRAMS PUBLICATIONS VIDEOS EXPERTS CONTACT AND MEDIA AMERICA’S VOICE FOR STRATEGIC REALISM MIDDLE EAST The Program primarily focuses on the future of America’s strategic role in this critical region for international security and global energy security and the future of its relations with regional states: both with long-standing allies, Israel and the Gulf States, and its changing relations with regional rival, Iran. Through regular engagement with senior policymakers, members of Congress, and the public in both its commentary and publications, the Program offers policymakers timely and actionable analysis and recommendations on how the U.S. can best advance its national interests as it engages and addresses regional challenges. By convening policymakers, experts, and scholars from both the U.S. and the region, the Program, seeks to examine how the U.S. can judiciously respond to the growing challenges confronted by the region and not become prone to the temptations of over-extension. As Washington’s main realist voice in American foreign policy for the past two decades, the program both seeks to understand regional states’ national interests and how Washington in partnership with these states and other global powers can advance its own interests while respecting these states’ interests. The program regularly engages in fieldwork in the Middle East and North Africa and consults policymakers in the U.S. and the region to ensure that its analysis is both timely and relevant. The program presently is conducting in a long-term examination of the future of U.S.’s relations with critical allies in the region (including Israel and the GCC), the implications for the U.S. of the strategic re-alignments occurring in the region since the Arab uprisings of 2011 and the Iranian nuclear agreement, and the impact of Syria’s civil war and the rise of ISIS on international peace and security and America’s national interests. Recent Publications: American Policy and Changing Alignments in the Middle East Report: Rethinking U.S. Strategy in the Middle East MORE PUBLICATIONS Recent Events: America, Iran, and the Nuclear Talks Weathering the Storm: Outlooks and Challenges for Syria’s Neighbors The Prospects for Stability in the Middle East MORE EVENTS JOIN US NOVEMBER-DECEMBER: THE GREAT GAME RETURNS SUBSCRIBE NOW TWEETS FOLLOW @CFTNI Henrik Larsen and Sten Rynning argue that the West can play on #Belarus’s fears that the country’s opportunity for… https://t.co/6vmFuRYckq @CFTNI "Rich countries are facing many problems, but two of the most concerning are the aging and shrinking of their labor… https://t.co/WLFv8U8xmX @CFTNI "Hopes that climate issues will transcend strategic issues, rather than be shaped by them, seems a nonstarter. What… https://t.co/rJAZ1TGdzW WATER CRISES, SECURITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE AMERICAN POLICY AND CHANGING ALIGNMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST FEATURED PUBLICATIONS OUR EXPERTS "I’m not a big fan of think tanks, but this is a different one" - Richard Nixon Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our newsletter © Center for the National Interest About the Center Events Programs Publications Experts Careers Contact and Media Requests Website by Cast From Clay