Michael Doran

Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East

michael_doran

At A Glance:

Michael Doran is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute.

Biography

Michael Doran is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at Hudson Institute. He specializes in Middle East security issues and cohosts Israel Update.

In the administration of President George W. Bush, Doran served in the White House as a senior director in the National Security Council, where he was responsible for helping to devise and coordinate United States strategies on a variety of Middle East issues, including Arab-Israeli relations and US efforts to contain Iran and Syria. He also served in the Bush administration as a senior advisor in the State Department and a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Pentagon.

Born in Kokomo, Indiana, Doran went to elementary school in Carmel, outside of Indianapolis, before his family moved to Fullerton, California, where he graduated from Sunny Hills High School. He received a BA from Stanford University and an MA and PhD in Near Eastern studies from Princeton University.

Before coming to Hudson, Doran was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has also held teaching positions at New York University, Princeton University, and the University of Central Florida. His latest book, Ike’s Gamble, was published by Free Press in 2016. He appears frequently on television, and has published extensively in Foreign Affairs, The American Interest, Commentary, Mosaic, The Wall Street JournalThe Washington Post, and The New York Times.

Events
03
November 2025
Past Event
Understanding the Strategic Surprise of October 7
Featured Speaker:
Itai Brun
Moderator:
Michael Doran
Getty Images
03
November 2025
Past Event
Understanding the Strategic Surprise of October 7

Brigadier General (Res.) Itai Brun will join Senior Fellow Dr. Michael Doran to examine the strategic, organizational, and analytical factors that enabled Hamas’s October 7 surprise attack. 

Getty Images
Featured Speaker:
Itai Brun
Moderator:
Michael Doran
23
October 2025
Past Event
The US in the South Caucasus: Mapping New Strategic Opportunities 
Featured Speakers:
Ilan Berman
Luke Coffey
Steve Daines
Michael Doran
Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim
Efgan Nifti
Joel Scanlon
: President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sign a joint declaration at the White House in Washington DC, on August 8, 2025. (Getty Images)
23
October 2025
Past Event
The US in the South Caucasus: Mapping New Strategic Opportunities 

A keynote address by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT), to examine the implications of the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement. 

: President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan sign a joint declaration at the White House in Washington DC, on August 8, 2025. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Ilan Berman
Luke Coffey
Steve Daines
Michael Doran
Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim
Efgan Nifti
Joel Scanlon
28
August 2025
Past Event
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on US-Israel Relations
Featured Speaker:
Gideon Sa’ar
Moderator:
Michael Doran
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Senior Fellow Michael Doran at Hudson Institute on August 28, 2025.
28
August 2025
Past Event
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on US-Israel Relations
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Senior Fellow Michael Doran at Hudson Institute on August 28, 2025.
Featured Speaker:
Gideon Sa’ar
Moderator:
Michael Doran
19
August 2025
Past Event
Counterterrorism and US Strategy with Dr. Sebastian Gorka
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Sebastian Gorka
Michael Doran
DVIDS
19
August 2025
Past Event
Counterterrorism and US Strategy with Dr. Sebastian Gorka

Dr. Sebastian Gorka, will meet with Dr. Michael Doran to discuss the evolving global terrorist threat, the future of United States counterterrorism strategy, and how counterterrorism shapes US policy in the Middle East.

DVIDS
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Sebastian Gorka
Michael Doran
Saudi Minister of State Musaad bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, CCP Politburo member Wang Yi, and Iranian Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Beijing, on March 10, 2023. (Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Caption
Saudi Minister of State Musaad bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Wang Yi, and Iranian Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in Beijing, China, on March 10, 2023. (Luo Xiaoguang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
michael_doran
michael_doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Commentary
5 Min Read
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks as part of the forty-fourth anniversary events of the Iranian Revolution in Tehran, Iran on February 8, 2023. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Caption
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei speaks as part of the forty-fourth anniversary events of the Iranian Revolution in Tehran, Iran on February 8, 2023. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
michael_doran
michael_doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Commentary
10 Min Read
TOPSHOT - The Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system (L) intercepts rockets (R) fired by the Hamas movement towards southern Israel from Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip as seen in the sky above the Gaza Strip overnight on May 14, 2021. - Israel bombarded Gaza with artillery and air strikes on Friday, May 14, in response to a new barrage of rocket fire from the Hamas-run enclave, but stopped short of a ground offensive in the conflict that has now claimed more than 100 Palestinian lives. As the viole
Caption
The Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system intercepts rockets fired by Hamas in the sky above the Gaza Strip on May 14, 2021. (Anas Baba/AFP via Getty Images)
Raphael BenLevi
Raphael BenLevi
Raphael BenLevi
Director, Churchill Program for Strategy, Statesmanship and National Security at the Argaman Institute of Tikvah Fund Israel
michael_doran
michael_doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Raphael BenLevi & Michael Doran
Reports
13 Min Read
Members of 5th Special Forces Group conducting 50. caliber weapons training during counter-ISIS operations at Al Tanf Garrison in southern Syria on November 25, 2017. (DVIDS)
Caption
Members of Fifth Special Forces Group conducting .50 caliber weapons training during counter-ISIS operations at al-Tanf Garrison in southern Syria on November 25, 2017. (DVIDS)
michael_doran
michael_doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Omer Ozkizilcik
Omer Ozkizilcik
Ömer Özkizilcik
Foreign Policy Analyst
Michael Doran & Ömer Özkizilcik
Reports
Long Read
An Iranian long range surface to surface Qadr missile and an anti-aircraft gun are displayed in a war exhibition organized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in a park in southern Tehran to mark the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war on September 23, 2021. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Caption
An Iranian long range surface to surface Qadr missile and an anti-aircraft gun are displayed in a war exhibition organized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in a park in southern Tehran to mark the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war on September 23, 2021. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
michael_doran
michael_doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Can Kasapoglu Hudson Institute
Can Kasapoglu Hudson Institute
Senior Fellow (Nonresident)
Commentary
1 Min Read
missile iran saudi arabia China, Russia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus,
Caption
Missiles fire over the Caspian Sea during the Caucasus-2020 military drills between Iran, China, Russia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus, on September 23, 2020. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images)
michael_doran
michael_doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Can Kasapoglu Hudson Institute
Can Kasapoglu Hudson Institute
Senior Fellow (Nonresident)
Commentary
Long Read