Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D. is a Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.  Dr. Johnson recently returned from 13 months spent in Iraq as the Deputy Director for Assessments in the Joint Strategic Planning and Assessment office at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.  In that capacity, he provided regular briefings and assessments to the U.S. Ambassador, other senior embassy officials, and government officials back in Washington on a broad range of topics. 

Prior to his work in Iraq, Dr. Johnson was a senior policy analyst in The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis, where he conducted quantitative analyses of a broad range of social and economic topics.  He has also previously held research positions at George Mason University, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and the University of North Texas.