Research Interests

Research revolves around the way in which the U.S. conducts Foreign Policy. This has led to work examining the National Security Council, the way in which various presidents since 1947 have organized the national security process, and the development of the national security state.

Selected Publications

• Nelson, ed. The Policy Makers ( 2008)
• “The Evolution of the National Security State; Ubiquitous and Endless,” The Long War: A New History of U.S. National Security Policy Since World War II, ed. Andrew Bacevich (2007)
• “Continuity and Change in the Age of Unlimited Power,” Diplomatic History, 2005
• “Anna M. Rosenberg: An ‘Honorary Man’,” Journal of Military History [Mrs. Rosenberg was Asst. Sec. of Defense, 1950-52), 2004.
• “Continental Expansion and the Roots of American Foreign Policy,” Journal of the West (2004)
• “Research Note: Operation Northwoods and the Covert War Against Cuba, 1961-63,” Cuban Studies, 32, 2002
• “The Importance of Foreign Policy Processs: Eisenhower and the National Security Council,” Ambrose/Bischoff, eds., Eisenhower: A Centenary Assessment, 1995.
• “John Foster Dulles and the Bipartisan Congress,: Political Science Quarterly, 1987
• Secret Agents: President Polk and the Search for Peace with Mexico, 1988.
• Nelson, ed. State Department Policy Planning Staff Papers, 1947-49 (3 vols.) 1983

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

• Troyer Steele Anderson Prize for Advancement of the Purposes of the American Historical Association, 2009
• Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center, Summer 2007
• James Madison Award from Coalition on Government Information, for the Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize for the Advancement of Historical Study of the Federal Government, Society for History in the Federal Government, 1988  

Work In Progress

• Monograph: Presidents, Policy and Process
• Conference Paper: What Did Nixon Learn from Eisenhower?

Congressional Testimony

• Testimony for American Historical Association and Organization of American Historians on Access to Public Records and Archival Policy, November 12, 1981, March 19, 1982,  June 28, 1983, September 9, 1986, September 17, 1986, October 19, 2001, March 14, 2006, March 1, 2007, April 16, 2008.

Executive Experience

• Project Director, Committee on the Records of Government, 1983-1985

Professional Presentations

• Paper, “The Pleasure (and Pain) of Writing About Powerful Women in Foreign Affairs,” Society for Historians of American Foreign  Relations,2007
• Participant, Panel on Presidential Libraries, (American Historical Association, 2007)
• Participant, Symposium on Presidential and Congressional Papers, John Brademus Center for the Study of Congress, 2005.
• Participant, 9/11 and Foreign Policy, Society for Historians of American Foreign Policy,2004
• Participant, Panel on Re-Evaluating the Nixon/Ford/Kissinger Era, Library of Congress, 2003.
• Paper, “Operation Northwood,” Conference on Cuban Missile Crisis on its 40th Anniversary, Havana Cuba, 2002
• Paper, “NSC 68 as a Case Study,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2000.
• Speech on Cold War Secrecy, University of Iowa, March 2000.
• Paper, “Opening the Door to Intelligence History, 1960-1964,” Akademie Fur Politische Bildung, Tutzing, Germany, 1999.
• Lecture, “Confronting History,” Central European University, Budapest, Hungary,1997.  

Grants and Sponsored Research

• Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Research Grant, 2006
• Harry S Truman Library Institute, Research Grant 1987
• American Historical Association, Beveridge Grant, 1985
• National Academy of Public Administration, Grant for Research in Presidential Libraries, 1980

Media Appearances

• Twelve interviews from 1994-2007, including Lehrer News Hour, Diane Rheims Show, CNN, NPR and Canadian Broadcasting TV.
• Nine interviews on the JFK Assassination Records Review Board, 1996-1999 including CBS Today, History Channel, Channel 9 Morning News  

Professional Services

• Member, Department of State Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation (Representing the Organization of American Historians), 19921994
• Member, John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board (Presidential appointment, Cenate Confirmation), 1994-1998
• Reviewer or Panel Participant, National Endowment of the Humanities, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1997
• Reviewer National Historical and Publications Commission, 2008.