Flynt L. Leverett

An expert on the Middle East, energy and the economic dimensions of international security, and Chinese foreign policy, Flynt Leverett is part of the founding faculty at the Penn State School of International Affairs, and an affiliate faculty at Penn State Law and Asian Studies Program. He is also a visiting scholar at Peking University's Institute of International and Strategic Studies and a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute of Financial Studies, Renmin University of China. 

From 1992 to 2003, Prof. Leverett had a distinguished career in the U.S. Government. He served nine years as senior Middle East analyst at the CIA. On the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, he earned a Superior Honor Award for his contributions to forming an international coalition against al-Qa’ida after the 9/11 attacks and to diplomatic efforts with Libya that led to the normalization of U.S.-Libyan relations after years of estrangement. In 2002, he went to the White House to serve as the National Security Council's senior director for Middle East affairs; he left government service in 2003 because of disagreements over Middle East policy and the conduct of the war on terror.

Prof. Leverett has written extensively on the international relations, politics, and political economy of the Middle East and on U.S. Middle East policy. His latest book, Going to Tehran: Why America Must Accept the Islamic Republic of Iran (2013), is now in paperback, with a new Afterword.  Written with his wife and frequent co-author, Hillary Mann Leverett, Going to Tehran was excerpted in Harper's and highlighted by Foreign Policy as a “Book to Read in 2013.” It was also the launch point for a Penn State Journal of Law and International Affairs symposium on “The U.S.-Iranian Relationship and the Future of International Order.” Going to Tehran has been lauded by leading public intellectuals like Andrew Bacevich, Noam Chomsky, and Glenn Greenwald.  Outside the United States, Going to Tehran was recommended by the Indian Council on Global Relations and will soon appear in Chinese. Prof. Leverett's first book, Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire (2005), was a Foreign Affairs bestseller and remains on Foreign Affairs' “What to Read on Syrian Politics” list. He also writes about global energy affairs and the implications of China's rise.    

Prof. Leverett has been a visiting professor at MIT and Yale and given presentations at top universities around the world, including Beijing (Peking University), Cambridge, Chicago, Georgetown, Harvard Law School, Johns Hopkins SAIS, Maryland, MIT, NYU, Tehran, Toronto, and Yale. He has been interviewed on major news and public affairs programs, including Al Jazeera (Arabic and English), BBC's Doha Debates and HARDtalk, the University of California's Conversations with History, CCTV, Charlie Rose, C-Span's Book TV and Washington Journal, NHK's Close Up Gendai, PBS Newshour, RT's CrossTalk, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He was featured in the BBC/PBS documentary, Israel and the Arabs: The Elusive Peace (2005) and in PBS Frontline's Showdown With Iran (2007). His articles and op-eds appear regularly in high-profile outlets, including The New York Times, Politico, and The National Interest. He is also a regular contributor to The World Financial Review.

Prof. Leverett has testified before congressional committees and addressed foreign ministries and strategic research institutes in Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. He has been a peer reviewer for the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook and a consultant to the World Economic Forum's “Gulf Cooperation Council and the World 2025” scenarios project. He has spoken at the Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs, the East-West Institute, the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House) and other prestigious venues. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.