Ltc. Karen U. Kwiatkowski
Ltc. (ret.) Karen U. Kwiatkowski is a retired U.S. Air Force officer whose assignments included duties as a Pentagon desk officer and various roles for the National Security Agency.
After retiring, she become a noted critic of the U.S. involvement in Iraq. Kwiatkowski is known for her insider essays denouncing a corrupting political influence on military intelligence, especially leading up to the 2003 Iraq. In 2012, she challenged incumbent Bob Goodlatt in the Republican primary for Virginia’s 6th district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
While in the Air Force, she wrote two books, Africa: African Crisis Response Initiative: Past Present and Future (2000) and Expeditionary Air Operations in Africa: Challenges and Solutions (2001). She contributed to Ron Paul: A Life of Ideas (2008) and Why Liberty: Personal Journeys Toward Peace and Freedom (2010). She has been featured in several documentaries, including Why We Fight (2005). She has written for LewRockwell.com since 2003 and her work has appeared in Salon and The American Conservative. She has an MA in Government from Harvard, an MS in Science Management from the University of Alaska, and a PhD in World Politics from The Catholic University of America; her thesis was titled Angola, A Case Study of the Implementation of the Reagan Doctrine. She is a founding member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
- Armenian Defense— Armenia's military capabilities, defense procurement, security doctrine, and post-war efforts to rebuild and modernize its armed forces.
- U.S. Foreign Policy— U.S. foreign policy strategy, military interventionism, and diplomatic engagement — covering America's role in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the South Caucasus, with emphasis on restraint, non-interventionism, and the costs of military overextension.
- Armenia-NATO Relations— Armenia's relationship with NATO, including military exercises, interoperability programs, and the debate over whether deeper ties are feasible or desirable.
- Armenia-US Relations— U.S.-Armenia relations, including USAID programs, defense cooperation talks, Armenian-American lobby efforts, and Washington's South Caucasus policy.
- Geopolitics— Armenia's strategic position in the South Caucasus and its relationships with regional and global powers in a rapidly shifting multipolar world.