Lawrence J. Korb

Lawrence J. Korb, born July 9, 1939, in New York City, is a member of the Intellibridge Expert Network and Vice President and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair, and Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

He is a Senior Fellow of the Center for American Progress. In March, 2009, Korb co-authored a CAP report titled Sustainable Security in Afghanistan along with Caroline Wadhams, Colin Cookman and Sean Duggan. It supported the Obama Administration's escalation of the war.

Background
In 1981, Korb was Director of Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and had served as an adjunct scholar for Federal budget analysis at the Institute since 1972. He was an adviser to the Reagan-Bush committee in 1980 and served as a member of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency transition team. In 1981, Korb was appointed as Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and Logistics) by Ronald Reagan and continued in that capacity until 1985. "In that position, he administered about seventy percent of the defense budget. His responsibilities included: recruiting and training the five million active duty reserve and civilian employees of the Department of Defense; maintaining the U.S. worldwide military base structure; and establishing supply, maintenance, and transportation policies for the land, sea, and air forces of the United States. For his service in that position, he was awarded the Department of Defense's medal for Distinguished Public Service ... In the past he has served as a Consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and to the Office of Education. He was a member of the Defense Advisory Committee for President-Elect Reagan (1980), and a member of the Defense Issues Group for President-Elect George Herbert Walker Bush (1988). "

He was Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Program, (1988-1998) at the Brookings Institution and was formerly Director of one of its projects - the Center for Public Policy Education. From 1981-1993, Korb served as Adjunct Professor, National Security Studies, at Georgetown University. From 1985-1986, he served as Vice President of Operations at the Raytheon Corporation. 

Korb was Dean of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, and was Professor of Management at the U.S. Naval War College (1975-1980), Associate Professor of Government at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (1971-1975), and Assistant Professor of Political Science, the University of Dayton (1969-1971). Korb has served as Chairman of the Board of the Committee for National Security and as a Board Member of the Washington Center, the Procurement Round Table, and the National Military Family Association. He is also a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and the National Academy of Public Administration. 

Korb was graduated from Athenaeum of Ohio (B.A., 1961); St. John's University (M.A., 1962); and State University of New York at Albany (Ph. D., 1969). He served on active duty for four years as a Naval Flight Officer (1962-1966) and retired from the Navy Air Reserve with the rank of Captain."

"Mr. Korb's 15 books and over 100 articles on national security issues include The Joint Chiefs of Staff: The First Twenty-Five Years; The Fall and Rise of the Pentagon; and American National Security: Policy and Process. He has appeared as a guest on such television programs as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Face the Nation, This Week with David Brinkley, The McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, Nightline, 60 Minutes, Larry King Live, and The Phil Donahue Show. His op-ed pieces have appeared in such major newspapers as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Enquirer, and The Christian Science Monitor." 

He led the Stanley Foundation's Independent Task Force on US Strategies for National Security.


 * Advisory Board, Ploughshares Fund
 * Advisory Council, Stanley Foundation

Media Quotes


 * On the motives for Operation Desert Storm: "If Kuwait grew carrots we wouldn't give a damn.", International Herald Tribune, August 21, 1990.


 * Regarding the Shock & Awe plan for the U.S. attack on Iraq: "This was not what we thought would happen," said Lawrence Korb, senior fellow at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. "This was out of the plan." CBS News, March 20, 2003.

Other SourceWatch Resources


 * Future Visions for U.S. Defense Policy