Scott R. Anderson is the David M. Rubenstein fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. An experienced international lawyer and former U.S. diplomat, he previously served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State and as legal advisor for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. In those capacities, he advised policymakers on legal matters relating to U.S. policy in the Middle East and North Africa, including counter-ISIS efforts, select Israeli-Palestinian issues, U.S.-Iraq relations, and the Yemen conflict, among other issues. He also helped to represent the Department in several litigation and international arbitration matters, including matters before the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to his position at Brookings, Mr. Anderson is a senior editor for Lawfare, an online publication committed to the analysis of hard national security choices. He is also an adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center and a fellow with the Truman National Security Project. Directly prior to joining Brookings, Mr. Anderson was an International Affairs Fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, a Research Fellow at the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, and an Associate of the International Security Program at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He also previously served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Mr. Anderson is a graduate of the Yale Law School and the University of Virginia.
