James Phillips

James Phillips

Former Visiting Fellow, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies

James Phillips was a Visiting Fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at The Heritage Foundation.

This expert is no longer a staff member at The Heritage Foundation.

James Phillips has written extensively on regional issues and international terrorism since 1978.

His prime research interests as part of Heritage’s Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign and National Security Policy include Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Persian Gulf security issues and Middle Eastern terrorism.

Phillips also writes many articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Islamic radicalism, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, and Turkey. He has testified numerous times before congressional committees on these issues.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Phillips has written extensively on the global war against terrorism and its implications for U.S. policy in the Middle East.

In his research papers, Phillips predicted the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan as well as the Soviet defeat there. He also predicted the dangers arising from U.S. withdrawal from engagement in Afghanistan, which contributed to the rise of the Taliban and the export of terrorism and radical Islamic terrorism.

In 2000, he called for a comprehensive U.S. policy to support the Afghan opposition and overthrow the ultra-radical Taliban regime, rather than narrowly focusing on Osama bin Laden, then based in Afghanistan and hosted by the Taliban.

Phillips has been interviewed frequently on a broad range of subjects by U.S. broadcast and cable news outlets, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News Channel, CNN, C-Span, MSNBC, National Public Radio and the Voice of America. He also has appeared on international outlets such as Sky News, Al Arabiya, Al Hurra, BBC Television and BBC World Service Radio.

His articles have appeared in in American newspapers such as USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Times, New York Post, Newsday, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune.

Phillips is a member of the Board of Editors of Middle East Quarterly, the leading conservative journal of Middle Eastern policy studies.

Before joining Heritage in 1979, Phillips was a Research Fellow at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. He previously was a Joint Doctoral Research Fellow at the Honolulu-based East-West Center.

Phillips holds a master of arts as well as a master of arts in law and diplomacy in International Security Studies from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He received a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Brown University.

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Libya Must Pay a Price for Terrorism James Phillips

Jan 9, 1986 3 min read

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U.S. -Soviet Academic Exchanges No Longer Should Favor Moscow James Phillips

Jan 9, 1986 19 min read

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Protecting the Environment: A Free Market Strategy James Phillips

Jan 2, 1986 1 min read

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Policy Review #35 - Winter 1986 James Phillips

Jan 1, 1986 1 min read

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A U.S. Strategy for Dealing with Syria James Phillips

Dec 27, 1985 18 min read

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Afghan Freedom Fighters Still Need U.S. Help James Phillips

Dec 19, 1985 3 min read

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U.S. -Greece Relations: An Agonizing Reappraisal James Phillips

Jul 18, 1985 17 min read

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Reagan's Blunt Message to Egypt's Mubarak James Phillips

Mar 8, 1985 14 min read

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Ethiopia's Kremlin Connection James Phillips

Jan 17, 1985 18 min read

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Moscow's Thriving Libyan Connection James Phillips

Jun 26, 1984 19 min read