Douglas Feith

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Douglas Feith — Life, Career, and Public Service

Douglas J. Feith (born July 16, 1953) is an American lawyer, policy official, and think tank scholar. He served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy under George W. Bush and played a key role in shaping post-9/11 U.S. defense and intelligence strategy. Explore his biography, controversies, views, quotes, and lessons.

Introduction

Douglas Jay Feith (born July 16, 1953) is an American lawyer, public servant, academic, and foreign policy thinker. He served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2001 to 2005 in the George W. Bush administration.

Feith is perhaps best known for his influential and controversial role in the lead-up to the Iraq War, especially through his advocacy for alternative intelligence assessments and his leadership over the Pentagon’s policy apparatus.

Since leaving public office, he has remained active in policy, academia, and writing, continuing to influence debates about U.S. national security, intelligence oversight, and the use of military force.

Early Life and Education

Douglas Feith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 1953. He grew up in a Jewish family; his father, Dalck Feith, was a Holocaust survivor who emigrated to the U.S. and became a businessman and philanthropist.

Feith attended Central High School in Philadelphia, then went on to Harvard University, where he earned his A.B. (magna cum laude) in 1975. He then attended Georgetown University Law Center, graduating with a J.D. (magna cum laude) in 1978.

After law school, Feith began in private practice at the firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in Washington, D.C., for several years.

Early Career & Transition to Public Service

Feith’s early work in public policy started in the mid-1970s. In 1975, he interned for Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson’s Subcommittee on Investigations. Over the following years, he developed a niche in national security, foreign policy, and Middle Eastern affairs.

Reagan Era

During the Reagan Administration, Feith held policy roles in the Pentagon and the National Security Council. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy and earlier worked in the NSC as a Middle East specialist. His work included debates over U.S. arms control, Middle East diplomacy, and structural changes to U.S. defense policy.

Private Law & Policy Advocacy

After his service in government during the Reagan era, Feith co-founded a Washington law and consulting firm, Feith & Zell, through which he engaged in lobbying and advisory work particularly in national security, defense contracts, and international affairs.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he also contributed to policy debates around Iraq, Israel, and U.S. strategic posture. He was connected to the study group behind the controversial policy paper A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm, which argued for a reshaped U.S. posture in the Middle East.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (2001–2005)

Appointment & Context

In July 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Feith as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, placing him among the top civilian leaders in the Department of Defense. He took office just before the September 11 attacks, which dramatically shifted priorities and thrust his office into the center of war planning.

In this role, Feith oversaw defense planning guidance, international relations for the DoD, and interagency policy coordination.

Role in the War on Terror & Iraq Strategy

Feith’s time at the Pentagon is highly associated with U.S. policies after 9/11. Among his major involvements:

• Supporting creation of new strategic partnerships, and pushing for NATO enlargement and reform.

• Helping craft U.S. policy positions toward Iran, North Korea, China, and involvement in the global war on terror.

• Overseeing or supporting the Office of Special Plans (OSP) and Counterterrorism Evaluation Group inside the Pentagon, which generated alternate or dissenting intelligence assessments regarding Iraq’s ties to al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction.

• Implementing de-Ba’athification policy (removing members of the Ba’ath Party from Iraqi government roles) and influencing the disbanding of Iraqi security forces. These decisions later became points of heavy criticism for their role in Iraq’s postwar instability.

A 2007 Pentagon Inspector General report criticized Feith’s office for “developing, producing, and then disseminating alternative intelligence assessments … including some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community.”

Feith defended these actions as essential to challenge assumptions and present policymakers with differing viewpoints.

Criticism and Legacy from the War Years

Feith’s role in prewar and postwar Iraq policies remains controversial. Critics argue that his intelligence contrarianism contributed to flawed assumptions in the Iraq invasion. Some senior military figures were reportedly critical of his approach; according to some accounts, General Tommy Franks was especially dismissive of Feith’s decision-makers.

Feith left the administration in August 2005.

Post-Government Career & Thought Leadership

After leaving government, Feith remained active in academia and public policy circles:

• He held a position as Professor and Distinguished Practitioner in National Security Policy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (2006–2008).

• He has been a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for National Security Strategies at the Hudson Institute.

• Feith also served as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Kennedy School and a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

• In 2008, he published his memoir War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism, offering his perspective on the decision-making processes and controversies of the early war years.

Feith continues to write and speak on national security, intelligence policy, U.S. defense posture, and strategic debates about the use of force.

Personality, Views & Philosophy

• Ideological alignment: Feith is often associated with the neoconservative school of foreign policy thought, emphasizing U.S. leadership, democracy promotion, and the proactive use of power.

• Contrarian in intelligence: A hallmark of his approach is skepticism toward consensus intelligence and a belief in the value of dissenting assessments.

• Legalistic and procedural approach: With a background in law, Feith often frames policy debates in terms of rule, procedure, and institutional authority.

• Persistent defender of his record: Even amid criticism, he has maintained his positions, arguing that many of the contentious decisions were necessary in a post-9/11 world.

Notable Quotes

Here are several quoted statements by or about Douglas Feith:

“No one in my office ever claimed there was an operational relationship [between Iraq and al-Qaeda]. There was a relationship.”

“It’s healthy to criticize the CIA’s intelligence… What the people in the Pentagon were doing was right. It was good government.”

In War and Decision, Feith writes extensively to challenge narratives about the Iraq War’s planning and intelligence processes, seeking to show transparency in his group’s internal memos and thinking.

In reflection, he has expressed regret over some post-invasion decisions, including not pushing more vigorously for “law and order” early in Iraq.

While fewer lines of popular quote remain attributed to him compared to more public politicians, these highlight his willingness to engage in contested policy debates on his terms.

Lessons from Douglas Feith’s Career

1. The value and danger of dissent
   Challenging consensus intelligence can lead to fresh insight—but also risk misalignment, fragmentation, or policy error if not carefully integrated.

2. Power of institutional design
   Leadership in policy environments often depends on creating structures (offices, review groups) that shape how decisions are framed and knowledge flows.

3. Persistence in intellectual conviction
   Feith’s career shows how a conviction in one’s policy worldview can sustain one through intense controversy.

4. Transparency in memoir and record-keeping
   His publication of internal memos and documentary appendices suggests a belief that future historical judgment should have full context, not just hindsight narratives.

5. Bridging legal, policy, and operational domains
   His path—from law to policy to defense leadership—illustrates how domain crossover can give leverage in influence and outcomes.

Legacy and Critical Appraisal

Douglas Feith’s legacy is deeply contested:

• Supporters view him as a bold, principled voice willing to break bureaucratic consensus in pursuit of strategy and national security.

• Critics argue his alternative intelligence frameworks contributed to flawed assumptions about Iraq, and that his policy structures hindered interagency coherence.

Regardless, Feith remains a significant figure in the post-9/11 security era. His writings, institutional experiments, and public defense of controversial decisions ensure his career will remain studied in debates about war, intelligence, and accountability in democratic governance.