Reuben Brigety

Director, Sustainable Security Program

Reuben E. Brigety, II is Director of the Sustainable Security Program at American Progress. His work focuses on the role of development assistance in U.S. foreign policy. Dr. Brigety’s other areas of expertise are U.S. national security, human rights, and humanitarian affairs. Prior to joining CAP, he served as a Special Assistant in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Brigety is also an Assistant Professor of Government and Politics at George Mason University. He is the author of Ethics, Technology and the American Way of War (Routledge, 2007) and a variety of other articles and book chapters. Before entering academia, Brigety was a researcher with the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch. He served on HRW research missions in Afghanistan in March 2002 and in Iraq in April and May of 2003. He also served as HRW's coordinator for crisis management during the Iraq war and as an HRW delegate to the Convention on Conventional Weapons negotiations in Geneva. Before joining HRW, Brigety was an active duty U.S. naval officer and held several staff positions in the Pentagon and in fleet support units.

Brigety is a Distinguished Midshipman Graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he earned a B.S. in political science (with merit), served as the Brigade Commander, and received the Thomas G. Pownall Scholarship. He also holds an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in international relations from Cambridge University, England. He is a fellow of the Cambridge Overseas Society, a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a recipient of the Council’s prestigious International Affairs Fellowship.