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David Isenberg

Adjunct Scholar

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David Isenberg is an independent, Washington-D.C. based analyst and writer on military, foreign policy, national and international security issues and the author of Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq. He is an expert in U.S. defense policy , WMD proliferation, terrorism, homeland security, peace operations, the intelligence community, international arms trade, small arms proliferation, private military companies, biological weapons, and general arms control issues.

Isenberg's blog, The PMSC Observer, focuses on private military and security contracting. He also blogs regularly at the Huffington Post.


Media Contact: 202-789-5200
To Book a Speaking Engagement: 202-789-5226



Books and Book Chapters

Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008).

Cato Studies

"Empty Promises: Why the Bush Administration's Half-Hearted Attempts at Defense Reform Have Failed," by David Isenberg and Ivan Eland, Policy Analysis no. 442, June 11, 2002.

"Imperial Overreach: Washington's Dubious Strategy to Overthrow Saddam Hussein," Policy Analysis no. 360, November 17, 1999.

"The Quadrennial Defense Review: Reiterating the Tired Status Quo," Policy Analysis no. 317, September 17, 1998.

"The Misleading Military "Readiness Crisis"," Foreign Policy Briefing no. 35, July 25, 1995.

"The Pentagon's Fraudulent Bottom-Up Review," Policy Analysis no. 206, April 21, 1994.

[View more Cato Studies]

Articles and Newsletters

"Private Military Contractors and U.S. Grand Strategy," PRIO Report, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, October 2009.

"Analysis of James Gordan v. ArmorGroup North America," Private Military Herald, September 20, 2009.

Opinion and Commentary

"Iran Well Prepared for the Worst," Asia Times, January 30, 2012

"Little Lift from End to Japanese Arms Ban," Asia Times Online, January 18, 2012

"Pentagon Talks Up the China Threat," Asia Times, August 30, 2011

"US War Debt Dances on the Ceiling," Asia Times, July 20, 2011

"Subcontracting Substandard Services: Military Contracts in Iraq Still Controversial," CorpWatch.org, June 27, 2011

[View more Opinion and Commentary]

Speeches and Testimony

"Are Government Contractors Exploiting Workers Overseas? Examining Enforcement of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, Congressional Testimony, November 2, 2011.

Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq, Speech, February 16, 2009.

Has the Privatization of National Security Gone Too Far?, Speech, November 14, 2008.




Multimedia

Media Highlights - TV David Isenberg discusses U.S. War contracts on Al-Jazeera (July 22, 2011) [Media Highlights - TV, 04:16]

Media Highlights - TV David Isenberg discusses the dismissal of charges against Blackwater contractors on Al Jazeera (January 2, 2010) [Media Highlights - TV, 07:18]

Daily Podcast Security Contractors in Iraq (December 29, 2008) [Daily Podcast, 08:46]