Amin Tarzi

Professor Amin Tarzi
atarzi@gmu.edu

SUMMARY STATEMENT

Dr. Tarzi is an internationally recognized professor, leader, and practitioner, whose unique professional, academic, and personal experiences have led to a proven track record teaching, influencing government and foreign policy, and building strategic partnerships and relationships across Europe and the broader Middle East and with NATO and U.S. military services and government agencies. His background of European birth, international living and professional experience, Afghan parentage, and U.S. nationality and foreign language skills provide a unique understanding of cultural nuances and perceptions of identity as well as the ability to navigate the sensitive political realities of these regions.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

• Mission-driven teaching, informed by adult learning theory and practice, at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, in civilian and military settings, to varied audiences (junior enlisted to general officer, undergraduate-graduate- professional, foreign and domestic), and in-person and online
• Ability to navigate effectively and produce positive outcomes within different cultural, administrative, and political settings, backed by experience of working for the governments of four different countries
• Geostrategic and security analysis, combining a solid academic background with both military and civilian practical policy experience in NATO, Europe, the broader Middle East, Mediterranean Sea southern littorals, and Red Sea and Black Sea regions
• Far-reaching professional network within U.S. and international military, government, and civilian academic and security communities
• Languages: Persian (Dari and Farsi), English, Arabic, Pashto, French, and Russian (elementary)
• Scholarly and applied project delivery
• Track II and official diplomacy and military theory and practical experience
• Extensive and diverse public speaking and media engagement
• Decisive transparent leadership
• Team leading and development
• Program design and oversight
• Archival research
• Adaptability, flexibility, and intellectual curiosity

PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

Director of Middle East Studies

Krulak Center for Innovation & Future Warfare, Marine Corps University, Quantico, VA 06/2007-05/2008; 05/2008-present

Accomplishments:

• Created and led a dynamic, productive center with global outreach, recognition, and partnerships.
• Awarded the Dr. Elihu Rose Award for Teaching Excellence.
• Broadened MCU’s collaboration with NATO partners, including the Swedish Defence University and the NATO Defense College.
• Keynoted, lectured, and presented papers in four languages in 37 countries on subjects, including security, geopolitics, cultural intelligence, nonproliferation, hydrocarbon politics, international relations, history and historical narratives and U.S. foreign policies. List of lecture titles and locations available upon request.
• Designed and directed high-level international symposia, annual lecture series, and educational panels for students.
• Introduced teaching about Israel within Professional Military Education to the larger Israel studies pedagogical community and presented my instructional approach in the published chapter, “Navigating Complexities: Teaching Israel
• Studies in the Professional Military Education Context” in Teaching Israel: Studies of Pedagogy from the Field, eds. Sivan Zakai and Matt Reingold (Waltham: Brandeis University Press, 2024), 61-82.
• Continually sought after for expertise in the geostrategic landscape in the Middle East, eastern and southern Mediterranean, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Black Sea region.
• Published MES Insights for over 15 years – uninterrupted, the only MCU publication with that claim.
• Served as the senior advisor to the commanding general for OPERATION ALLIES WELCOME, April 2021-April 2022, resulting in my receiving the U.S. Marine Corps Commendation for Superior Civilian Service.
• Developed a novel course on Israel, the product of intensive study and training at the Schusterman Center’s Summer Institute for Israel Studies, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.

Responsibilities:

• Serve as the inaugural Director of the Middle East Studies (MES) Center, first as a stand-alone center until 2018 and then as part of the Krulak Center for Innovation & Future Warfare.
  • Establish annual strategic goals, mission, and associated budget requirements for the MES.
    • Supervise MES personnel, who include civilians, uniformed personnel, and at times international fellows (Germany and Norway) and interns.
• Conduct semi-annual performance reviews for civilian subordinates.
• Serve as reporting senior for military personnel.
• Oversaw the Af/Pak Hands Program, which at its peak had six, including field-grade, officers for the Marine Corps in the National Capitol Region.
  • Design and oversee MES programs and activities, including the Krulak Scholars Program, annual MES Lecture Series, and panels; when authorized, organized and facilitated large scale conferences.
  • Manage and edit the publication of the bimonthly MES Insights, the MES Occasional Paper Series, and the MES Monograph Series.
  • Represent Marine Corps University (MCU) officially at meetings of U.S. and international professional and other learned societies, in order to establish and maintain professional relationships with educators, scholars, scientists, and public officials and broaden MCU's reach into these communities.
  • Represent the Krulak Center at the MCU Faculty Council.
  • Advise senior leadership on the geostrategic calculations and security challenges in the broader Middle East.
  • Prepare and deliver instruction to various levels of professional military education (PME) across the MCU’s educational continuum and throughout the sister service, broader DoD, and international military PME communities.
    • Recurring courses:
      • Design and teach courses on Iran for Diplomacy and Statecraft module of the Marine Corps War College (MCWAR).
      • Design and teach a course on Israel for MCWAR.
      • Design and teach a course on Turkey and its role within NATO for MCWAR.
      • Offer an elective entitled “State of Israel in Context” for the Command and Staff College (CSC) at MCU. This course has been selected by students annually since first offered in 2017.
      • Design and teach a class on Iran’s maritime strategies at the Expeditionary Warfare School (EWS).
• Design and teach a course presenting a comprehensive strategic overview of the Islamic Republic of Iran to EWS.
  • Past courses:
    • Designed and taught three courses annually for the Senior Enlisted Course for the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Instructional Group; the Senior Enlisted Course no longer exists.
      • Provided lectures on Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Concept of Just War in Islam, and other related subjects to CSC.
      • Provided lectures on Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Taliban movement to EWS.
  • Serve as Master of Military Studies adviser and on the defense committee for CSC students.
• Design and deliver predeployment training and classes aboard naval vessels, on Marine, sister service, NATO, and partner installations, and virtually to deploying forces of all ranks, from junior enlisted to general officers.
• Conduct scholarly research, analysis, and assessments related to the interconnected, and evolving set of national security challenges facing the United States and NATO partners in the broader Middle East, Mediterranean Sea southern littorals, and Red Sea and Black Sea regions with regard to strategic

competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russia, violent extremist organizations, and the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies known as the “Axis of Resistance.”

• Publish results of research in scholarly journals, books, white papers, editorials, and other fora.

Regional Analyst for Iraq and Afghanistan

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Prague, Czech Republic; Washington DC 6/2002-6/2007

Accomplishments:

• Spearheaded the effort to elevate the analysis of the direct reporting from Afghanistan, culminating in the creation of the “Afghanistan Report.”
• Selected to serve as Secretary-General to the Independent High Commission on Communication and Information for Afghanistan to work with UNESCO to help Afghanistan create a free independent media post-Taliban, 2006-2008.

Responsibilities:

• Based on the work of stringers in the field, wrote daily analytical pieces for U.S. congressional leaders.
• Created and wrote the weekly “Afghanistan Report”.
• Advised U.S. and foreign civilian and military decisionmakers on topics related to Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq and on-going wars in the region.
• Presented papers at international conferences on Afghanistan.
• Presented learning sessions at U.S. Congress and various NATO fora.

Senior Research Associate

Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, CA 04/1999– 06/2002

Accomplishments:

• Established a solid base of study of nuclear and missile proliferation in the West and South Asia that continues to thrive.
• Brought international attention to CNS among Middle Eastern circles both in the United States and across Europe, engaging the U.S. Congress, NATO partners, major U.S. and European think-tanks working on non-proliferation studies and diplomacy, donor communities, and major U.S. and international media outlets and Hollywood.
• Served as Rapporteur for the 12th Regional Disarmament Meeting in the Asia-Pacific Region, “Strategic Stability, Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament and the 2000 NPT Review Conference,” Kathmandu, Nepal, February2000.
• Leveraged my extensive professional network to invite high-level diplomats, security experts, and researchers from Egypt, Jordan, and Israel to speak to my classes, further enhancing the learning experience for the students.

Responsibilities:

• Inaugurated the Middle East section for nonproliferation research at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).
• Managed the nuclear and missile databases for Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Syria at CNS.
• Directed student research assistants who supported data collection as part of their scholarships.
• Coordinated research requirements from clients including the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Nuclear Threat Initiative for the Middle East nuclear and missile databases.
• Participated in Track II discussions and negotiations with representatives from Egypt, Greece, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, and occasionally other countries on confidence and security building measures with regards to missile production and tests.
• Represented CNS in the media, including ABC News “Nightline”, CBS News “The Early Show”, and MSNBC “Hardball”.
• Served as an adjunct professor at the Monterey Institution of International Studies.
  • Created and taught a new graduate course entitled “Middle East Security and Threat Perceptions.”
  • Served as professor/advisor in the Institute’s seminars, simulating international treaty negotiations, helping groups of students representing countries of the Middle East and South Asia.
  • Created and taught classes during the Institute’s Summer Session on international security politics, focusing on nuclear weapons and their delivery systems and the politics of nuclear weapons.
• Fundraised for CNS at various U.S.-based foundations supporting nuclear nonproliferation, such as the Ford Foundation, Ploughshares, and Schooner Foundation.
• Invited as a guest lecturer at the Naval Post Graduate School (NPS) and thesis advisor to NPS students.

Research Fellow for Iran and Central Asia

Emirates Center for Strategic Studies, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 08/1999-09/1998

Accomplishment:

• Provided a private session about Iran to the Chief of Staff of the UAE, who is currently the President of the country.

Responsibilities:

• Advised UAE military, including the Chief of Staff, on developments in Iran and how to deal with the Iranian threat, perceived and real.
• Prepared internal documents on Iranian military behavior.
• Participated in public forums in the UAE on military and political matters dealing with Iran and Central Asia.

Political Advisor to the Ambassador

Permanent Mission of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations, New York, NY 03/1993-03/1996

Accomplishments:

• Served as a founding member of the “Friends of Afghanistan” informal group, which later became the “Six-Plus-Two” body for transition in Afghanistan.
• Hosted the first ever meeting on the UN budget at the Saudi Mission.

Responsibilities:

• Served as the principal advisor to the Permanent Representative of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations on subjects important to Saudi polices, including but not limited to the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, Rwanda, and Somalia; the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) extension; Iranian behavior in the United Nations; and Security Council expansion.
• Represented Saudi Arabia in the UN Secretary General’s “Friends of Afghanistan” informal meetings, bringing ambassador-level representatives from Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United States together to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
• Participated in the NPT Review and Extension Conference and related meetings.
• Delivered speeches on behalf of Saudi Arabia at various United Nations bodies.
• Developed and executed informal meetings to find a strategy on contribution schemes to the United Nations budget.

EDUCATION

PhD in Middle Eastern Studies

• Department of Middle Eastern Studies, New York University (NYU),New York, NY
• May 2003
• ~3.9 GPA

MA in Near Eastern Language and Literature

• Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literature, NYU, New York, NY
• September 1993
• ~3.9 GPA

BA in Political Science and Philosophy with a minor in History

• Queens College, City University of New York, Queens, NY
• September 1989

Certificate, Leader Development

• US Army War College
• July 2021
• Successful completion – Commandant’s National Security Program

ADJUNCT TEACHING

Adjunct Professor

Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 2021-present

• Teach recurring undergraduate courses in US government and international relations; course titles:
  • GOVT 344 American Foreign Policy
  • GOVT 322 International Relations Theory
  • GOVT 490 Geopolitics of Iran
• Courses are in-person and online via Canvas.

Politician in Residence

University of Southern California, Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Washington, DC
2015-present

• Taught recurring undergraduate-level courses focused on contemporary international politics and the modern Middle East; course titles:
  • IR 499 International Relations of the Middle East
  • IR 307 Contemporary International Politics
  • IR 464 US Foreign Policy in the Middle East since 1950

Senior Fellow

Center for Advanced Defense Studies, Washington, DC
11/2004 – 05/2006

• Taught graduate-level courses through Rochester Institute of Technology; course titles included:
  • Examining Terrorist Organizations
  • Cultural Intelligence
  • Economics of Political Violence
• Served as advisor to students for their Master of Science degrees.
• Represented organization in conferences and media events.

HONORS AND AWARDS

• U.S. Marine Corps Commendation for Superior Civilian Service, September 2022.
  • Awarded in recognition of my service as senior advisor to the commanding general of OPERATIONALLIES WELCOME.
• Dr. Elihu Rose Award for Teaching Excellence, Marine Corps University, Academic Year 2020-21.
  • Awarded in recognition of superior teaching, performance, dedication to students, and commitment to Professional Military Education and leadership during the academic year.
  • Recipient of Outstanding Civilian Professor.
• Certificate of Participation, Turkish War Colleges Command, Turkish Joint Command and Staff College and Strategic Research Institute, 2016.
  • Awarded for my contribution as a panelist at their International Relations and Security Symposium.
• Certificate of Appreciation, 811th Infantry Battalion, Romanian Land Forces,2015.
  • Awarded for outstanding teaching at their “Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace Program”.
• Certificate of Appreciation, Center for Language, Regional Expertise and Culture, Defense Intelligence Agency, 2014.
  • Awarded for my work at the Egypt Geostrategic Intelligence Seminar.
• Certificate of Assistance, Academia General Militar, Cátedra Cervantes and Zaragoza University, September 2011.
  • Awarded for my representing the US position in “Global Security and Emerging Powers in a Multipolar World” at the 19th International Defense Course.
• Award of Fellowship, Bahria University, Karachi, Pakistan, 2008.
  • Award: position of Senior Research Fellow of the National Centre for Maritime Policy Research
• Morse Preceptor, College of Arts and Science, New York University, 1998-99.
  • Award: full tuition assistance.
• Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship, New York University, 1996-97.
  • Award: tuition assistance and funds to conduct archival research in Cambridge and London.
• International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) 1996-97 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities in Eurasia.
  • Award: yearlong research stipend for to conduct archival research in Uzbekistan.
• Graduate Assistantship for Central Asian Studies, New York University, 1992-94.
  • Award: full tuition and a stipend.
• Dean’s Preliminary Dissertation Research Award, New York University, summer 1993.
  • Award: stipend for to conduct archival research in Russia.
• IREX Developmental Fellowship to study Russian, Columbia University, summer1993.
  • Award: stipend for Russian language training
• Foreign Languages and Area Studies(FLAS) Fellowship, academic year 1991-92 and summer 1991, New York University.
  • Award: full tuition assistance to study Arabic language at NYU and Middlebury College.
• President’s Service Award for Programming, NYU, 1992.
  • Awarded for creating discussion groups for Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian languages and programming ambassador-level lectures, leveraging my professional network at the United Nations.
• Distinguished Student Award for Arabic, Middlebury College, 1991.
  • Description: sole recipient, only award presented for all six levels of Arabic language study.
• Certificate of Dedicated Service, Queen College,1991.
  • Awarded in recognition of my outstanding contribution to the Big Buddy Program, pairing homeless children with Queens College students.
• Phi Alpha Theta, International Honors Society of History, membership award, 1989.

LANGUAGES

• Native Persian(Farsi and Dari)
• English, fluent
• Arabic and Pashto, near fluent
• French, working knowledge
• Russian, elementary

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

• “The Geopolitics of Iran” in The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Geopolitics, ed. Zak Cope (Palgrave McMillian, 2024).
• “Navigating Complexities: Teaching Israel Studies in the Professional Military Education Context” in Teaching Israel: Studies of Pedagogy from the Field, eds. Sivan Zakai and Matt Reingold (Waltham: Brandeis University Press,2024), 61-82.
• “Three Decades of US Intervention in the Mediterranean Region: Limits of the Counterterrorism Approach to Stabilization,” Confluencés Médierraneé No. 123 (2022): 99-110.
• “Society-Centric Warfare: Lessons from Afghanistan and Ukraine,” MES Insights, Vol. 12, Issue 2 (April 2022).
• “The Return of Russia in Afghanistan” in Russia in NATO’s South: Expansionist Strategy or Defensive Posture?, eds. Chloé Berger and Cynthia Salloum, NDC Research Paper, No. 16 (Rome: NATO Defense College Press, 2021), 51-60
• “The Strategic Benefits to the US and Israel of Offering F-35s to the UAE,” BESA Center Perspective Paper No. 1,753 (18 September 2020).
• “Les espaces maritimes du Moyen-Orient: De la compétition pacifique à l’affrontement?” in RAMSES 2020 Un mond sans boussole? (Paris: Dunod, 2019), 78- 83.
• “Islamic State—Khurasan Province” in The Future of ISIS: Regional and International Implications, eds. Sumit Ganguly and Feisal al-Istrabadi (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2018).
• “The U.S. Foreign Policy and the Future of the Middle East” with Kenneth Pollack, Paul R. Pillar, and Chas W. Freeman Jr., Middle East Policy vol. XXI, no. 2 (Fall 2014), 1- 30.
• “Political Struggles of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Borderlands” in Modern Lives in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Borderlands: Under the Drones, eds. Shahzad Bashir and Robert D. Crews (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012), 17-30.
• “The United States in the Middle Eastern Eyes: A Reliable Partner or a Problem to be Managed?” with James Zogby, Leon Hadar, and Jon Alterman, Middle East Policy vol. XVII, no. 4 (Winter 2010),1-22.
• The Iranian Puzzle Piece: Understanding Iran in the Global Context (Quantico: Marine Corps University Press, 2009).
• The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan, co-edited with Robert Crews (Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2008; paperback ed. 2009).
• “The Role of WMD in Iranian Security Calculations: Danger to Europe,” Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal (Herzliya, Israel) vol. 8, no. 3 (September 2004).
• “Contradictions in U.S. Policy on Iraq and its Consequences” in Crises in the Contemporary Persian Gulf, ed. Barry Rubin (London: Frank Cass, 2002), 181-198.
• “Missile Messages: Iran Strikes MKO Bases in Iraq,” co-authored with Darby Parliament, The Nonproliferation Review vol. 8, no. 2 (Summer 2001), 125-133.
• “Iran’s Missile Test Sends Mixed Messages,” Center for Nonproliferation Studies (15 August 2000).