Foundation for Defense of Democracies

The Honorable Francis J. "Bing" West served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration. He is currently a Correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. Other posts he has held include: Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Vice President of the Hudson Institute and Dean of Research at the Naval War College. He has also been an analyst at the Rand Corporation and a visiting professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University. His company, GAMA Corporation, conducts emergency planning exercises for federal agencies, states and corporations.

A graduate of Georgetown and Princeton Universities, he also studied at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Princeton. In Vietnam, he served as a  member of the Marine Force Reconnaissance team that initiated "Operation Stingray" - attacks behind enemy lines. He also saw action in the villages with the Combined Action Platoons. While serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense, he chaired the United States Security Commissions with Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, South Korea and Japan.

Among other awards, he is the recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Department of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Medal and the Medaille de Liberté, awarded by Tunisia after a military engagement. He has served on numerous boards, including the Center for Naval Analyses and the Secretary of State Commission on Foreign Aid. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Middle East Institute, the Military Order of the Carabao, the Infantry Order of St. Crispin. He appears frequently on C-SPAN, CNN and The News Hour.

West is the author of numerous books, including Small Unit Action in Vietnam, The Village, Naval Forces and National Security, The Pepperdogs: A Novel, The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the US Marines and No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah. Universal Studios is producing the film version. His latest book - a history of the Iraq war - is entitled The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics and the Endgame in Iraq. It is based on 15 trips over six years to Iraq, where he was embedded with 60 different battalions and interviewed hundreds of soldiers and marines from the commanding generals to the corporals.

The Los Angeles Times named him "one of the top ten journalists covering Iraq". He is the recipient of Marine Corps Heritage Award for nonfiction, the Colby Military History Award and the VFW National Media Award. His articles appear in The Wall St. Journal, The New York Times, the National Review, the Los Angeles Times and MSNBC Slate.com.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Newport, RI. He can be reached at westbing@yahoo.com. His web site is www.westwrite.com.

The Honorable Francis J. "Bing" West served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan administration. He is currently a Correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. Other posts he has held include: Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Vice President of the Hudson Institute and Dean of Research at the Naval War College. He has also been an analyst at the Rand Corporation and a visiting professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University. His company, GAMA Corporation, conducts emergency planning exercises for federal agencies, states and corporations.

A graduate of Georgetown and Princeton Universities, he also studied at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Princeton. In Vietnam, he served as a  member of the Marine Force Reconnaissance team that initiated "Operation Stingray" - attacks behind enemy lines. He also saw action in the villages with the Combined Action Platoons. While serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense, he chaired the United States Security Commissions with Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, South Korea and Japan.

Among other awards, he is the recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Department of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Medal and the Medaille de Liberté, awarded by Tunisia after a military engagement. He has served on numerous boards, including the Center for Naval Analyses and the Secretary of State Commission on Foreign Aid. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Middle East Institute, the Military Order of the Carabao, the Infantry Order of St. Crispin. He appears frequently on C-SPAN, CNN and The News Hour.

West is the author of numerous books, including Small Unit Action in Vietnam, The Village, Naval Forces and National Security, The Pepperdogs: A Novel, The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the US Marines and No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah. Universal Studios is producing the film version. His latest book - a history of the Iraq war - is entitled The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics and the Endgame in Iraq. It is based on 15 trips over six years to Iraq, where he was embedded with 60 different battalions and interviewed hundreds of soldiers and marines from the commanding generals to the corporals.

The Los Angeles Times named him "one of the top ten journalists covering Iraq". He is the recipient of Marine Corps Heritage Award for nonfiction, the Colby Military History Award and the VFW National Media Award. His articles appear in The Wall St. Journal, The New York Times, the National Review, the Los Angeles Times and MSNBC Slate.com.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Newport, RI. He can be reached at westbing@yahoo.com. His web site is www.westwrite.com.