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Counterterrorism, Foreign and defense policy, Grand strategy, International relations, and Middle East

Gil Barndollar

Non-Resident Fellow

Gil Barndollar is a non-resident fellow at Defense Priorities and a senior research fellow at the Catholic University of America’s Center for the Study of Statesmanship.

Barndollar served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps from 2009 to 2016, deploying to Afghanistan twice, to Guantanamo Bay, and to the Persian Gulf. Barndollar has written for publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Times, and U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, and has appeared on CNN, Fox News, the BBC World Service, and other national and international media outlets. He holds an AB in history from Bowdoin College and MPhil and PhD degrees in history from the University of Cambridge.

op-edSyria, Afghanistan, Middle East, Russia

Who lost more weapons—Russia in Syria or America in Afghanistan?

By Gil Barndollar

December 17, 2024

Jubilant rebels bloodlessly entering the capital, a president in flight, a stunned foreign patron negotiating the evacuation of its forces—this […]

In the mediaUkraine‑Russia, Europe and Eurasia, Russia, Ukraine

Ukraine gives absconding soldiers second chance as forces dwindle

Featuring Gil Barndollar

December 5, 2024

In the mediaGrand strategy, Afghanistan, Americas

Risking Mexico and the Trump Presidency

Featuring Gil Barndollar

December 5, 2024

More from Gil Barndollar

op-edSyria, Afghanistan, Middle East, Russia

Who lost more weapons—Russia in Syria or America in Afghanistan?

By Gil Barndollar

December 17, 2024

In the mediaUkraine‑Russia, Europe and Eurasia, Russia, Ukraine

Ukraine gives absconding soldiers second chance as forces dwindle

Featuring Gil Barndollar

December 5, 2024

In the mediaGrand strategy, Afghanistan, Americas

Risking Mexico and the Trump Presidency

Featuring Gil Barndollar

December 5, 2024

op-edUkraine‑Russia, Europe and Eurasia, Russia, Ukraine

Ukraine’s missing medical mobilization

By Gil Barndollar

November 29, 2024

op-edAfghanistan, Middle East

How the Taliban built an air force

By Gil Barndollar

October 25, 2024

op-edIsrael, Israel‑Hamas, Middle East

Harris faces new battles with expanding Middle East conflict

By Gil Barndollar

October 11, 2024

Gil Barndollar Past Virtual Events

virtualGlobal posture, Grand strategy

Past Virtual Event: Refusing to choose: did the global posture review fail?

December 10, 2021

Gil Barndollar Featured Symposia

ukraine flag
symposiumUkraine, Russia

Lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

February 13, 2023

symposiumAfghanistan

Lessons from Afghanistan

September 10, 2021

symposium

DoD budget cuts

symposiumNATO, Alliances

Antique alliance: Rethinking NATO at 75

July 2, 2024

symposiumGrand strategy

Realistic recommendations for Trump II