Melvin Goodman
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Melvin A. Goodman is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, and an adjunct professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University. His 42-year government career included tours at the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense’s National War College, where he was a professor of international security. His books on international security include “A Whistleblower at the CIA: The Path of Dissent;” “National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism;” “Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives are Putting the World at Risk;” “The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze;” “The Phantom Defense: America’s Pursuit of the Star Wars Illusion;” “The End of Superpower Conflict in the Third World,” and “Gorbachev’s Retreat: The Third World.”
He has written numerous articles and opeds that have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, Foreign Policy; Harper’s Magazine; the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; and the Foreign Service Journal. His TV appearances include the PBS Newshour; the Amy Goodman Show; NBC; and CBS. He has lectured at college campuses all over the country as well as to numerous chapters of the World Affairs Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, and various veteran organizations. In 1991, he testified before the Senate intelligence committee in order to block the confirmation of Robert M. Gates as director of the CIA.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
BOOK
May 28, 2019
Book: American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump
by Melvin Goodman
American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump provides the first assessment of the Trump administration’s damage to American governance. The book is not concerned with the investigations of Robert Mueller; the illegal payoffs to the president’s paramours; or the corruption of the Trump family. Instead, it identifies efforts to politicize the military and intelligence communities; the efforts to undermine and degrade essential departments and agencies; and the attacks on science and regulation. The final chapter suggests what is needed to be done to reverse the damage and correct the political process.
BOOK
June 9, 2018
Book: Rocket Man: Nuclear Madness and the Mind of Donald Trump
by Melvin Goodman
Will President Trump destroy civilization or win the Nobel Peace Prize? Humankind’s survival feels like a jump ball that could go either way. We are perched on a precipice, and the reason we are looking into an abyss of nuclear annihilation is that the American president has unencumbered, unilateral control over the nuclear codes...
LATEST NEWS
April 5, 2022
Albright and Clinton: Two Peas in a Pod of "Liberal Interventionism"
By Senior Fellow Melvin Goodman
Expert Melvin Goodman writes, " It has been said that Prussia was a state-owned by its army. If you take into account America’s “civilian army” of contractors, consultants, and policymakers, could the same be said for the United States?"
July 14, 2021
Bombast in the Black Sea: the Latest British Provocation
by CIP Senior Fellow Melvin Goodman
There is a Russian folk saying: “don’t try to skin the Russian bear before it is dead.” This is exactly what Britain did when it sent the destroyer H.M.S. Defender into the Black Sea to challenge the Russian incorporation of Crimea. Instead of military confrontation, the West should simply fail to recognize the incorporation, which is what NATO did throughout the Cold War vis-a-vis the incorporation of the Baltics into the Soviet Union.
August 23, 2021
Afghanistan: the Miserable Performance Of The Mainstream Media
by Melvin Goodman
The editorial boards and oped writers of our mainstream media in discussing the war, continue to cite “enduring American faith in the values of freedom and democracy” as the underlying purpose of our effort. The New York Times, in fact, cited the “purity of U.S. values” such as civil rights, religious tolerance, and women’s empowerment as a justification for our occupation of Afghanistan.
June 23, 2021
The US-Russia Summit: What Did Biden And Putin Achieve?
Melvin Goodman Interviewed
"We begin with a perspective on what was achieved during last week’s summit in Geneva between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Tom's guest is Melvin Goodman. He served for 42 years in government service, including positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the National War College. Today he’s a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University." Listen to the full interview here!