Professor of political science and public policy; director of the Triangle Institute for Security Studies; director of the Program in American Grand Strategy
From 2005-07, he was on leave to be special adviser for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform on the National Security Council Staff at the Bush White House. He is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and blogs at www.shadow.foreignpolicy.com.
“Trump's win was an ugly, divisive victory not supported by a majority of American voters. But it has overwhelmed the old Democratic and Republican establishments," said Pope "Mac" McCorkle of the Sanford School.
Duke faculty in Duke Today
“He's leaving a mixed legacy. The American foreign policy position is in a worse shape today than it was when he took over. And the next administration is going to have to deal with a range of threats: Both the non-state threats like terrorist networks and the newly re-emergent state-based threats like assertive China, assertive Russia.”
Peter Feaver in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Two Duke professors write that U.S. officials “should resist the siren song of offshore balancing,” which proposes relying on other countries to maintain the balance of power in regions crucial to U.S. interests.
Hal Brands and Peter Feaver writing in Foreign Affairs
“Trump … lost an opportunity to gain some real momentum from the slow slippage of support from Secretary Clinton in North Carolina and elsewhere,” says public policy’s Mac McCorkle.
Duke faculty in Duke Today
Hillary Clinton on Monday accused Donald Trump of aiding Islamic State recruitment, while Trump said she had helped weaken national security following bomb blasts in New York and New Jersey. “When bad news happens, (Clinton) wants to be able to say, this is why you need a steady hand on the tiller," says Peter Feaver.
Peter Feaver in Newsweek
Peter Feaver on WFAE
“Putin is playing him” for his own reasons, political science professor Peter Feaver tells the New York Times. Those reasons, he adds, include the Russian leader’s hope that Mr. Trump will weaken NATO, reduce America’s role in global affairs, and leave Moscow a freer hand.
The New York Times
With both major party candidates scheduled to address a veterans association this evening, Duke professors Charlie Dunlap and Peter Feaver weigh in on whether military endorsements are worth as much as the candidates think.
Time
The reason Donald Trump is not doing as well as previous Republican candidates with military voters, says political scientist Peter Feaver, is that Trump’s message might resonate more with World War II and Korea veterans, who are aging and passing on. In particular, he calls Trump’s relationship to the Vietnam cohort of veterans “fraught.”
FiveThirtyEight
“The Clinton team is talking about the need for national unity in the face of a genuine political crisis, but its idea of unity seems to be for Republicans to abandon all of their policies and interests,” writes political scientist Peter Feaver and a co-author.
Foreign Policy
While giving Donald Trump credit for a “surprisingly serious” speech on counterterrorism Monday, former Bush administration official Peter Feaver said that “given how vehemently Trump has denounced Bush’s national security team, it is striking how much of this speech depends on counterterrorism ideas developed by the Bush administration. It is not a perfect copy -- we never contemplated seizing the oil for our own purposes and we were far more concerned about how anti-Muslim rhetoric might demoralize the moderate Muslim voices we were seeking to empower. But the good parts are not new -- they are imported from the Bush approach -- and the new parts are not good.”
New York Times
Fifty of the nation's top Republican national security officials, including Duke political scientist Peter Feaver, signed a letter Monday saying they would not vote for Donald Trump. Feaver says Trump “has not improved on any of the dimensions that concerned me last year: his temperament, his integrity, his understanding of complex issues, his capacity to attract the nation's finest talent and mobilize them to address our challenges.”
The Chronicle
“The real problem with encouraging Russian mischief is that no one, least of all the presidential candidate, should want a foreign power to intervene in our election with dirty tricks.”
Foreign Policy
Conservative national security experts are worried about Trump’s policies. But some are even more concerned that he won’t have any good advisers. “First, is the sense that he’s likely to lose and you will be forever tarred if you endorse him,” says political scientist Peter Feaver. “Second, he is unlikely to listen to your advice. So even if he wins and you go in, the chance that you can do good is limited.”
The Huffington Post
In the same way that Donald Trump has thus far benefitted from a visceral connection with angry Republican primary voters, the Orlando attacks may provide him with an opening for a similar connection with angry general election voters. That would compound an already horrible tragedy.
Foreign Policy
“Leaders who make assertive statements and then fail to deliver on their promises can see their reputations seriously damaged and leave their countries more vulnerable to threats from abroad,” write Peter Feaver and Danielle Lupton.
Foreign Policy
“What ISIL has done is to accomplish some of the things, at an earlier stage in that organization’s development, than al-Qaeda was able to.”
Epoch Times
"(Donald) Trump is the first time in history that we have a candidate who has held onto his supporters so long despite making so many mistakes. He is also the first candidate in history to have been a front-runner for so long without generating any momentum among people who have not already supported him."
an interview with CNN
In their latest discussion, foreign affairs experts Peter Feaver and Bruce Jentleson examine whether President Obama was correct in staying in Cuba rather than returning home to the United States following the terror attack in Brussels. They also look at the global threat posed by ISIS.
Based on “Trump’s failure to talk responsibly or learnedly about national security,” former White House national security adviser Peter Feaver lists seven reasons why the GOP front-runner’s foreign policy is likely to be a disaster. And, below, Feaver and Bruce Jentleson discuss Trump and Bernie Sanders in the latest Foreign Exchange.
Foreign Policy
How would Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump address national security and foreign policy if elected President? Peter Feaver and Bruce Jentleson debate the implications in this episode of Foreign Exchange.
Obama administration officials acknowledge that sticking to the plan of removing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan would be disastrous for U.S. interests. So Obama’s much-touted promise to “end the wars” will not be fulfilled when he leaves office, writes Peter Feaver in Foreign Policy.
Foreign Policy
In the latest episode of “Foreign Exchange,” Peter Feaver and Bruce Jentleson examine the presidential races post-Iowa, including how we may hear Hillary Clinton “almost calling (Bernie Sanders) out” on foreign policy and how Marco Rubio’s strong finish in Iowa might elevate the foreign policy debate among Republicans.
In the latest episode of “Foreign Exchange,” Peter Feaver and Bruce Jentleson examine the presidential races post-Iowa, including how we may hear Hillary Clinton “almost calling (Bernie Sanders) out” on foreign policy and how Marco Rubio’s strong finish in Iowa might elevate the foreign policy debate among Republicans.
Foreign Exchange
In the newest episode of “Foreign Exchange,” foreign policy experts Peter Feaver and Bruce Jentleson discuss the latest developments in Iran-U.S. relations, including whether the hostage exchange and the nuclear deal represent a new day in diplomatic relations between the two countries.
“I am pretty sure that if President Obama had delivered these remarks instead of the ones he actually delivered he would have connected better with the American people.”
Foreign Policy
President Obama “struggles where military resolve is required in the face of adversity. He often impatiently backs away and dismisses the efficacy or need to counter the threat.”
Foreign Policy
What should the U.S. policy be in the aftermath of the attacks in Paris?
“The New York Times ran an interesting article discussing the questions raised by the post-Paris air strikes conducted by France. It put me in mind of several other questions that U.S. President Barack Obama has not answered (and may not even have been asked).”
Foreign Policy
The world is living through a period of extraordinary instability and volatility, “at the front end of a new and dangerous era,” former U.S. national security adviser Tom Donilon told a Duke audience.
Sanford School of Public Policy
Political science professor Peter Feaver says it's high time for the GOP to take back its natural advantage on foreign policy.
Foreign Policy
What should the U.S. policy be in Syria now that Russia is intervening militarily? Peter Feaver and Bruce Jentleson debate the implications in this episode of Foreign Exchange. Peter Feaver is a professor of political science and public policy. From 2005-07, he was special advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform in the Bush White House. Bruce Jentleson is a professor of public policy and political science. He was a senior adviser at the State Department from 2009-11, working on the Middle East and other issues.
Peter Feaver says Trump is not prepared for what would be his biggest responsibility.
Foreign Policy
