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@ian_lesser
Staff
Expert

Ian Lesser

Vice President, Foreign Policy; Executive Director, Transatlantic Center
Brussels
Expertise: 
Policy, NATO / Mediterranean & Middle Eastern Affairs / North-South Relations / Terrorism / Proliferation / International Security & Geopolitics / Energy
Related Topics: 
Security and Defense Program, Europe Program, Mediterranean Program, Mediterranean Strategy Group, Turkey, Grexit, NATO, NATO and the Mediterranean, Understanding America, Atlantic Strategy Group

Ian Lesser is vice president for Foreign Policy at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and a member of GMF’s executive team, managing programs across the organization. He also serves as executive director of the Transatlantic Center, the Brussels office of GMF, and leads GMF’s work on the Mediterranean, Turkey, and the wider Atlantic. 

Prior to joining GMF, Dr. Lesser was a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and vice president and director of studies at the Pacific Council on International Policy. He came to the Pacific Council from RAND, where he spent over a decade as a senior analyst and research manager specializing in strategic studies. From 1994-95, he was a member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State, responsible for Turkey, Southern Europe, North Africa, and the multilateral track of the Middle East peace process.

A frequent commentator for international media, he has written extensively on foreign and security policy issues. Dr. Lesser was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, the London School of Economics, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and received his PhD from Oxford University.  He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He serves on the advisory boards of the International Spectator, Turkish Policy Quarterly, and Insight Turkey, and has been a senior fellow of the Onassis Foundation in Athens and the Luso-American Foundation in Lisbon. He serves as a senior advisor to the Commander, US European Command (EUCOM).

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Featured Work

On Turkey

Turkey at War?

Jul 30, 2015 | By Ian Lesser
In the News

Brussels Bombings Threaten European Unity

Mar 23, 2016 | By Ian Lesser
Transatlantic Take

NATO Looks South

Feb 17, 2016 | By Ian Lesser

Featured Events

Jun
3

11th Mediterranean Strategy Group

June 3, 2015 | 6:15PM CEST to June 5, 2015 | 2:00PM CEST
| Florence

Most Recent Content

Photo Credit: Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock

Transatlantic Take

Trouble Looms for Turkey’s Transatlantic Ties

Jun 27, 2018 | By Ceylan Akman Canbilek, Ian Lesser, Kadri Tastan, Jonathan D. Katz
Report

The Future of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue

Jun 27, 2018 | By Ian Lesser, Charlotte Brandsma, Laura Basagni, Bruno Lété

Photo Credit: Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock

Transatlantic Take

Sunday is a Big Day for Turkey. Here’s What to Expect

Jun 19, 2018 | By Ian Lesser, Ozgur Unluhisarcikli

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