Douglas Feith

Douglas J. Feith is an American attorney and national security specialist who served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from July 2001 to August 2005 in the George W. Bush administration. In that capacity, he directed the development of U.S. defense policies on a wide array of issues, including strategies for the war on terrorism, military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, missile defense, nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, and international alliances such as NATO. Feith also contributed to reforms in U.S. defense posture and strategic partnerships with countries like India and Pakistan, earning the Distinguished Public Service Medal twice for his service. Earlier in his career, during the Reagan administration, Feith held positions as a Middle East specialist on the National Security Council and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy. Currently, as a senior fellow and director of the Center for National Security Strategies at the Hudson Institute, Feith researches and writes on foreign policy, defense strategy, terrorism, and the interplay between policy and intelligence. He is the author of War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism (2008), which details and defends key decisions made in the Pentagon following the September 11 attacks. Feith's establishment of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, tasked with analyzing intelligence relevant to policy planning for Iraq, generated significant controversy, with detractors claiming it circumvented established intelligence processes to emphasize links between Iraq and terrorism, though a Department of Defense Inspector General review determined that the office's activities, while unconventional, did not involve misconduct or fabrication of evidence.