Dr. Pollack is Director of Research at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he focuses on Persian Gulf and Middle Eastern security issues. He has served on the staff of the National Security Council as Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs and as Director for Persian Gulf Affairs. He worked at the Central Intelligence Agency from 1988 until 1995, where he served as a Persian Gulf military analyst and was principal author of the CIA's classified assessment on Iraqi strategy and operations during the 1991 Gulf War. He has also been a Senior Research Professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Dr. Pollack is the author of numerous publications, including The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq.