Kenneth Pollack | Unthinkable: Iran, the Bomb, and American Strategy

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Kenneth Pollack, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution discussed his new book, Unthinkable: Iran, the Bomb, and American Strategy on October 7, 2013 at the SMU Tower Center.

“The Tower Center’s relevant and interesting roundtable discussion was perfectly timed. On the heels of Iranian President Rouhani’s visit to the UN General Assembly, we were able to hear from the author about U.S. policy towards Iran, as well as discuss several other policy puzzles in the Middle East.

I think we all left better informed and with an improved understanding of the region, which we can now share with our SMU students.”

– Diana Newton, Senior Fellow, Tower Center


pollackKenneth M. Pollack is an expert on Middle Eastern political-military affairs, with particular emphasis on Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the other nations of the Persian Gulf region. He is currently a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He served as the director of the Saban Center from 2009 to 2012, and its director of research from 2002 to 2009. His most recent book isUnthinkable: Iran, the Bomb, and American Strategy. Pollack received his B.A. from Yale University and a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His dissertation was titled The Influence of Arab Culture on Arab Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991.