Alexander Vindman

Former Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council

Alexander Vindman, lieutenant colonel US Army (retired), was the director for European Affairs on the United States National Security Council and is a Charles F. Kettering Foundation senior fellow. He previously served at the Pentagon as the Political-Military Affairs Officer for Russia and as an attaché at the American embassies in Moscow and Kyiv. While on the Joint Staff, he authored the US National Military Strategy for Russia. His military awards include two Legions of Merit and the Purple Heart, having sustained wounds in an IED attack during the Iraq War. Vindman earned his master’s degree from Harvard University, where he currently serves as a Hauser Leader, and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he is presently a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute. Vindman is the head of the national security think tank, the Institute for Informed American Leadership, and is a member of the executive board for the Renew Democracy Initiative. He is a senior advisor to VoteVets and the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, Here, Right Matters: An American Story. He also leads the Here Right Matters Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Ukraine win its war with Russia and rebuild afterwards. Vindman frequently shares his expertise in appearances on NPR, MSNBC, and CNN, and he remains engaged with principal decision-makers in Washington and Kyiv.

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