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Dov S. Zakheim is a Senior Fellow at CNA Corp and Senior at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Washington. Previously he served as Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and DoD Chief Financial Officer (2001-04) and as DoD Coordinator of civilian programs in Afghanistan (2002-04). From 1985 to 1987, he was Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Planning and Resources. He sits on various corporate boards and is Vice-Chairman of both the Foreign Policy Research Institute and Center for the National Interest. He is also the author of Flight of the Lavi: Inside a US-Israeli Crisis (Brassey's 1996).

Commentary 793: America must help stop Israel from self-destructing

29 August 2023

On its face, there is little that the United States can do to help prevent Israel from destroying itself. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s go

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Commentary 794: The price of a hostage deal with Iran is more terrorism-and trouble for America

05 October 2023

The Biden administration’s money-for-hostage exchange with Iran has, not surprisingly, generated considerable controversy. Critics of the deal a

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Commentary 795: What Biden accomplished in Israel

15 November 2023

It was rather amusing to see President Joe Biden hugging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon his arrival in Israel. Biden certainly was not

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Commentary 796: What’s next for Gaza

23 November 2023

The longer Israel holds off entering the Gaza Strip, the greater will be the number of voices around the world calling upon Israel not to enter at all

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Commentary 634: UAE's Sheikh Mohammed saves the day - or does he?

31 August 2020

Donald Trump’s electoral prospects appeared to be fading away; for weeks Joe Biden was leading him in every poll. Israel’s Benjamin Netany

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Commentary 645: Other Arab states may not line up to normalize relations with Israel

15 October 2020

Having hosted a successful White House ceremony to formalize the normalization of Israel’s relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bah

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Commentary 653: Blocking the F-35 sale to the UAE will only help our foes and Israel’s

25 November 2020

Forty years ago, the Reagan administration sought to sell AWACS early-warning and control aircraft to Saudi Arabia, a close American ally but an unaba

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Commentary 655: We can't allow Turkey and Russia to fill America's Middle East vacuum

10 December 2020

President Trump appears determined to withdraw as many troops as he can from the Middle East before he vacates the White House on Jan. 20, 2021. While

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Commentary 673: A fearless Pope makes history in Iraq

02 April 2021

“It was an amazing visit.” That’s how Iraqi President Barham Salih summed up to me the historic visit of Pope Francis to Iraq. And P

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Commentary 681: Why Abandoning King Abdullah Would Be Bad for America

29 April 2021

Jordan’s arrest of about twenty leading officials accused of plotting to overthrow King Abdullah II, coupled with Prince Hamzah bin Hussein&rsqu

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Commentary 683: Washington's split with Turkey widens - but it is up to Turkey to heal the rift

07 May 2021

The chasm between Washington and Ankara grows wider by the day. President Biden’s decision to keep a campaign promise that his predecessors made

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Commentary 685: How to stop an unnecessary war

17 May 2021

At the time of writing, the increasingly bloody war between Israel and Hamas continues apace. At some point Egypt will mediate a truce, as it has done

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Commentary 691: The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is holding— what's next?

07 June 2021

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire appears to be holding. President Biden has reiterated his commitment to a two-state solution — a commitment that form

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Commentary 721: Holding back on defensive systems for Israel could have dangerous consequences

30 September 2021

Several days ago, a group of so-called progressive Democrats, led by the “Squad”  — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilha

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Commentary 742: After Nearly 75 Years, Israel Finally Finds Acceptance in the Middle East

13 December 2021

Even as the left wing of the Democratic Party continues to blast Israel — to the degree that the Squad opposed the sale of the Iron Dome defence

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Commentary 752: China Opens New Doors in the Middle East

24 January 2022

The State Department this week issued a report that once again rejects China’s claims to exclusive sovereignty over the South China Sea —

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Commentary 759: Shimon Peres saw it coming, and the Emirates made it happen

09 March 2022

In what proved to be the last book he wrote before his death, “No Room for Small Dreams,” Israeli statesman Shimon Peres presciently obser

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Commentary 762: Breadcrumbs That Could Bring Down a Government

18 May 2022

It is not often that a government falls over a few crumbs. But that is exactly what could happen to Israel’s coalition government, which assumed

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Commentary 581: America Might Not Go to War with Iran, but Israel Might

13 January 2020

While Americans are agonizing over the wisdom of killing Iranian Quds Force leader Qassim Suleimani, and debating how to respond to the likelihood of

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Commentary 584: Withdrawal from Iraq would dangerously undermine American national security

17 January 2020

Washington continues to be consumed by speculation and debate over whether the United States should retaliate against any Iranian reprisals to avenge

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Commentary 767: Biden and Israel: A mutual love affair

17 August 2022

As President Biden often reminds his Israeli interlocutors, he first visited Israel in 1973 when Golda Meir was prime minister. It was the year that I

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Commentary 768: Why the Saudis took no steps toward normalizing relations with Israel

25 August 2022

Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia did not exactly work out as the president perhaps had anticipated. His fist bump with Crown Prince Mohammed bi

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Commentary 769: The triumph of Turkey’s Erdoğan

31 August 2022

“Unpredictable” is an understatement when describing Turkey’s authoritarian president, Recep Tayyib Erdoğan. His country is a membe

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Commentary 770: The terrorists are indeed back in Afghanistan

05 September 2022

The one year anniversary of the Biden administration’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan has provided the occasion for Congressman Michael McCaul (R

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Commentary 772: How an Iran nuclear deal could destabilize an already troubled Eastern Mediterranean

09 September 2022

Israel and Turkey recently announced that, once again, they would upgrade their relations to full diplomatic status. The relationship between the two

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Commentary 779: Netanyahu should ignore Israeli partners who push to annex Palestinian territory

24 October 2022

As the world watches Vladimir Putin brazenly annex chunks of eastern Ukraine, one politician in particular will be following the Russian leader’

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Commentary 787: Netanyahu’s Foreign Policy Gamble in Israel

16 December 2022

In 1996, when Benjamin Netanyahu was first elected prime minister, Israel was still basking in the afterglow of the 1992 Oslo Accords. It had relation

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Commentary 540-Bibi could win with risky gamble, but US and Israel could lose

04 March 2019

For months, Israel’s pundits predicted that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu once again would emerge the victor in the country’

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