Areas of Expertise: Middle East, Iraq, Turkey, transborder Kurdish issue, conflict stabilization.
Dr. Denise Natali is the Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. She previously served as the Assistant Secretary for Conflict and Stabilization Operations at the Department of State. Dr. Natali has worked extensively in conflict and border zones in the Middle East and South Asia and provided strategic support to Department of Defense and other U.S national security leaders for Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, as well as Operation Provide Comfort II in northern Iraq. She directed cross-border operations for an NGO in Peshawar, Pakistan and taught and led research at universities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani.
Dr. Natali is an award-winning author whose books include The Kurdish Quasi-State: Development and Dependency in Post-Gulf War Iraq and The Kurds and the State: Evolving National Identity in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. She has also published numerous articles on Middle East security, Iraq, Turkey, regional energy politics, and the cross-border Kurdish issue.
Dr. Natali received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a B.A. in government at Franklin & Marshall College. She studied at L’Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris, the University of Tehran Deh Khoda Language Program in Iran, and Tel Aviv University. Dr. Natali is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and speaks French and conversational Kurdish and Farsi.