Michael Knights is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and the Gulf Arab states. He has traveled widely in Iraq, Yemen, and the Gulf states, and regularly briefs U.S. government policymakers, congressional committees, and U.S. military officers on regional security affairs. He has worked extensively with local military and security agencies on the ground in Iraq, the Gulf states, and Yemen. Knights has undertaken exhaustive research on lessons learned from U.S. military operations in the Gulf during and since 1990. He earned his PhD from the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, and later worked as the head of analysis for a range of security and oil companies, directing information-collection teams in Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. He previously worked as a defense journalist for the Gulf States Newsletter and Jane’s Intelligence Review.