The work of the Iraq Study Group was supported by four expert working groups, as well as a panel of senior retired military officers. The expert working groups addressed four broad topics: the strategic environment in and around Iraq; the security of Iraq and key challenges to enhancing security within the country; political developments within Iraq following the elections and formation of the new government; and the economy and reconstruction.

Group One: Economy and Reconstruction

  • Gary Matthews, USIP Secretariat
    Director, Task Force on the United Nations and Special Projects, United States Institute of Peace
  • Raad Alkadiri
    Director, Country Strategies Group, PFC Energy
  • Frederick D. Barton
    Senior Adviser and Co-Director, International Security Program,
    Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Jay Collins
    Chief Executive Officer, Public Sector Group, Citigroup, Inc.
  • Jock P. Covey
    Senior Vice President, External Affairs, Corporate Security and Sustainability Services, Bechtel Corporation
  • Keith Crane
    Senior Economist, RAND Corporation
  • Amy Myers Jaffe
    Associate Director for Energy Studies, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University
  • K. Riva Levinson
    Managing Director, BKSH & Associates
  • David A. Lipton
    Managing Director and Head of Global Country Risk Management, Citigroup, Inc
  • Michael E. O'Hanlon
    Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, The Brookings Institution
  • James A. Placke
    Senior Associate, Cambridge Energy Research Associates
  • James A. Schear
    Director of Research, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University

Group Two: Military and Security

  • Paul Hughes, USIP Secretariat
    Senior Program Officer, Center for Post-conflict Peace and Stability Operations,
    United States Institute of Peace
  • Hans A. Binnendijk
    Director & Theodore Roosevelt Chair, Center for Technology & National Security Policy, National Defense University
  • James Jay Carafano, Ph.D.
    Senior Research Fellow, Defense and Homeland Security, Doug and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
  • Michele A. Flournoy
    Senior Advisor, International Security Program, Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Michael Eisenstadt
    Director, Military & Security Program, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
  • Bruce Hoffman
    Professor, Security Studies Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
  • Clifford May
    President, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
  • Robert M. Perito
    Senior Program Officer, Center for Post-conflict Peace and Stability Operations,
    United States Institute of Peace
  • Kalev I. Sepp
    Assistant Professor, Department of Defense Analysis, Center on Terrorism and Irregular Warfare, Naval Postgraduate School
  • John F. Sigler
    Adjunct Distinguished Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
  • W. Andrew Terrill
    Research Professor, National Security Affairs, Strategic Studies Institute
  • Jeffrey A. White
    Berrie Defense Fellow, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Group Three: Political Development

  • Daniel Serwer, USIP Secretariat
    Vice President, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations, United States Institute of Peace
  • Raymond H. Close
    Freelance Analyst and Commentator on Middle East Politics
  • Larry Diamond
    Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University and Co-Editor, Journal of Democracy
  • Andrew P.N. Erdmann
    Former Director for Iran, Iraq and Strategic Planning, National Security Council
  • Reuel Marc Gerecht
    Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
  • David L. Mack
    Vice President, The Middle East Institute
  • Phebe A. Marr
    Senior Fellow, United States Institute of Peace
  • Hassan Mneimneh
    Director, Documentation Program, The Iraq Memory Foundation
  • Augustus Richard Norton
    Professor of International Relations and Anthropology, Department of International Relations, Boston University
  • Marina S. Ottaway
    Senior Associate, Democracy and Rule of Law Project, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Judy Van Rest
    Executive Vice President, International Republican Institute
  • Judith S. Yaphe
    Distinguished Research Fellow for the Middle East, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University

Group Four: Strategic Environment

  • Paul Stares, USIP Secretariat
    Vice President, Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, United States Institute of Peace
  • Jon B. Alterman
    Director, Middle East Program, Center for Strategic & International Studies
  • Steven A. Cook
    Douglas Dillon Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
  • James F. Dobbins
    Director, International Security and Defense Policy Center, RAND Corporation
  • Hillel Fradkin
    Director, Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World, Hudson Institute
  • Chas W. Freeman
    Chairman, Projects International and President, Middle East Policy Council
  • Geoffrey Kemp
    Director, Regional Strategic Programs, The Nixon Center
  • Daniel C. Kurtzer
    S. Daniel Abraham Visiting Professor, Middle East Policy Studies, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University
  • Ellen Laipson
    President and CEO, The Henry L. Stimson Center
  • William B. Quandt
    Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Saban Center for Middle
    East Policy, The Brookings Institution
  • Shibley Telhami
    Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development, Department of Government & Politics, University of Maryland and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Saban Center
    for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution
  • Wayne White
    Adjunct Scholar, Public Policy Center, Middle East Institute

Military Senior Advisor Panel

  • Admiral James O. Ellis, Jr.
    United States Navy, Retired
  • General John M. Keane
    United States Army, Retired
  • General Edward C. Meyer
    United States Army, Retired
  • General Joseph W. Ralston
    United States Air Force, Retired
  • Lieutenant General Roger C. Schultz, Sr.
    United States Army, Retired