Matthew Tavares, Expert on Russia and Middle Eastern Security, Joins The Washington Institute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Pentagon official Matthew Tavares has joined The Washington Institute as an adjunct fellow in its Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition, the research organization announced today. At the Institute, Tavares will examine how Russia’s ambitions in the Middle East shape the regional security environment and affect key policy and procurement decisions of the United States and its allies.
“I’m delighted that Matt is bringing his deep expertise on Russia and Middle Eastern security to our research and policy analysis,” said Robert Satloff, the Institute’s Segal Executive Director and Howard P. Berkowitz Chair in U.S. Middle East Policy. “His defense experience will help enhance our understanding of the Kremlin’s Middle East strategy, including its implications for countering Iran and for broader U.S. defense policies in the region.”
Tavares has spent nearly two decades focused on Russian strategy, asymmetric threats, counterterrorism, and combat and intelligence operations. A colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, he was an active-duty artillery officer with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, deploying to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom before transitioning to the Army Military Intelligence Corps and serving as chief of intelligence plans for the Counter-ISIS Coalition during Operation Inherent Resolve. He is now director of government affairs at Singularity Defense Corporation, working with Congress, the Pentagon, and U.S. allies on how low-cost air defense is built, bought, and fielded. At the Institute, his research will focus on Russian military-technical cooperation and defense sales in the Middle East and their effect on the region.
Tavares’s writing has appeared in The National Interest, The Hill, and The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune, including several articles on the Russia-Iran relationship co-authored with Washington Institute Harold Grinspoon Senior Fellow Anna Borshchevskaya. He holds a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A. in Middle Eastern history from Tulane University.
Media Contact: Rehana Paul, 202-230-9550, email.
About The Washington Institute: The Institute is an independent, nonpartisan research institution funded exclusively by U.S. citizens that seeks to advance a balanced and realistic understanding of American interests in the Middle East and to promote the policies that secure them. Drawing on the research of its fellows and the experience of its policy practitioners, the Institute promotes informed debate and scholarly research on U.S. policy in the region.