Peter D. Feaver
Professor of Political Science

Peter D. Feaver (Ph.D., Harvard, 1990) is a Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University. He is Director of the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS) and also Director of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy (AGS). Feaver is author of Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and Civil-Military Relations (Harvard Press, 2003) and of Guarding the Guardians: Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons in the United States (Cornell University Press, 1992). He is co-author, with Christopher Gelpi and Jason Reifler, of Paying the Human Costs of War (Princeton University Press, 2009), co-author, with Susan Wasiolek and Anne Crossman, of Getting the Most Out of College (Ten Speed Press, 2008), and co-author, with Christopher Gelpi, of Choosing Your Battles: American Civil-Military Relations and the Use of Force (Princeton University Press, 2004). He is co-editor, with Richard H. Kohn, of Soldiers and Civilians: The Civil-Military Gap and American National Security (MIT Press, 2001). He has published numerous other monographs, scholarly articles, book chapters, and policy pieces on American foreign policy, public opinion, nuclear proliferation, civil-military relations, information warfare, and U.S. national security. He is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and blogs at Elephants in the Room on ForeignPolicy.com. In 1993-94, Feaver served as Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control on the National Security Council at the White House where his responsibilities included the national security strategy review, counterproliferation policy, regional nuclear arms control, and other defense policy issues. From June 2005 to July 2007, Feaver was on leave to be Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform on the National Security Council Staff at the White House where his responsibilities included the national security strategy, regional strategy reviews, and other political-military issues.

Current Research Interests

American grand strategy
Public attitudes towards the military in the United States
Civil-Military relations at the policy-making level

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Contact Information

  • 287 Gross Hall, Box 90204, Durham, NC 27708
  • Box 90204, Durham, NC 27708-0204
  • uri icon CV

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